


Secrets of the Night

by NikkiTe



Category: Frostiron - Fandom, Iron Man - Fandom, Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Thor (Movies)
Genre: FrostIron - Freeform, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-30
Updated: 2015-07-07
Packaged: 2018-03-26 11:14:36
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 54,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3848863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NikkiTe/pseuds/NikkiTe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Amidst the crisis in New York, Tony Stark gets a visitor in the night who comes with fleeting touches and sweet promises. </p><p> Just how much will the battle of New York change with one visit? </p><p> </p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Visitor

Tony felt great. Who wouldn't feel great when there was a huge building with your name plastered at the very top? He hadn't felt this good in ages. Well not really, but given all that has happened with Stark Industries and the emergence of S.H.I.E.L.D., suffice to say he hasn't had a lot of downtime recently.

Especially with Pepper. Pepper Potts has been the one thing that has been keeping him sane recently. Pepper has been the only thing that has kept him grounded despite all the crazy things that have been happening.

If she wasn't around, Tony might never have made it this far.

And that was the reason why Tony had given in to her request about the Stark Tower. Despite Tony's genius, the thought of using the Arc reactor in this manner had never crossed his mind. He had ideas for it to be a power source, a lot of ideas. But he could never find any way to test it. He had never thought that he could test run it on one of his own buildings. Pepper was a genius in her own right.

And really Pepper was one of the few people Tony really depended on. She had long since passed the line of casual sex friend or a plaything for Tony. But Tony never loved her. He depended on her and trusted her, but not love. Tony Stark didn't know the meaning of that word, and he saw himself as someone who probably would never fall in love.

He smiled a bit when he saw the STark Tower light up. The tower was beautiful, a beacon of light amidst the sea of lights that was New York City.

"You should see it from out here," Tony said as he maneuvered his suit back to the tower.

Pepper laughed that sweet laugh of hers as she turned her attention away from the computer and looked out through the window. "I prefer not to fly around outside in a suit thank you very much."

"Almost there sweetheart," Tony said as he finally landed on the platform. Jarvis took it from there. The AI system carefully but quickly and fluidly removed the parts that made up the Iron Man suit as Tony Stark walked down the platform and back into his tower.

Upon seeing him land, Pepper took a glass of champagne in both her hands and walked up to Tony.

"This calls for a celebration," Tony said as he smiled at her and took the glass of champagne. "This is your baby after all."

"My baby?" Pepper asked with a happy look in her eyes.

"12% your baby."

Pepper's eyes widened and an incredulous look took over her features quickly. "12%.... 12%?!"

"Alright...maybe 20? Come on, who had to do all the heavy lifting?"

It was her idea yes, but without Tony none of this would have been possible anyway, right? He invented, he put everything together. She just thought of the idea. Well of course the idea was a big part of it, without it this wouldn't be here at all.

"Alright... 50 / 50."

Pepper finally turned back around and sighed. "Alright, 50 / 50," she conceded.

As Tony thought of a reply to that, Jarvis voice broke through the calm celebratory mood. Well it wasn't calm for the average person, but all this verbal nitpicking with Pepper was a whole new level of calm compared to the chaos of war that seemed to follow Tony everywhere.

"Sir, Agent Coulson is at the door."

"Tell him I'm not here."

"Sir, it seems to be very urgent."

Quickly Pepper's face changed into one of concern. She was so easily distracted, in Tony's opinion, by plights of other people.

"Tell him...."

Before he could even finish speaking, the door behind them slid open and right there stood a very serious looking Phil Coulson.

Pepper stood up quickly. "Phil!" she greeted him.

"Phil? When did that happen?" Tony asked as he stood up and followed. "His first name is Agent."

Pepper went closer and wrapped one arm around the agent as Tony dragged his legs.

Ignoring Tony's comment, Coulson greeted Pepper with a smile. Then he turned to Tony and pulled up a file. "We need you to look at this."

"I don't like being handed things."

"I like being handed things," Pepper said quickly as she took the file instead. She turned to Tony and handed it to him as she took away his glass of champagne. "You have homework."

"No I don't." But Tony still took the file and placed it on his desk. He opened the file and his eyes quickly went over the files that he could see. His eyes widened just slightly as he took in all the new information. The Avengers Initiative. This is what it was.

Pepper went close and stayed by his side. "What's going on?"

Tony clicked the files with his fingers and slowly pushed them out and on to the hologram so he could see a bigger projection of everything.

Pepper's eyes widened and she gasped as she saw all that information. "You have a lot of homework tonight."

"What about our celebration?"

"Homework," Pepper said again as she turned to Tony. "And ionce you finish..." She leaned in and whispered things to Tony's ear that will probably have any other man blushing. But not Tony Stark. Tony Stark never blushed no matter who he bedded. But it was a promise. And Tony liked sex enough to look forward to it.

Pepper pulled away and turned to Coulson. "Would you be able to pass by the air strip?"

And as soon as she turned away Tony turned his attention back to the files. He didn't even realize that the door had shut and that both Pepper and Coulson had left.

His attention was on everything at once. He couldn't focus. Because even for him, even for a man of his genius, people just wasn't his forte. Technology and data he could process within minutes, seconds even. But people, he just wasn't gifted in that area. And all these data about the Avengers, well, he needed time to process them.

As his mind started to focus on things, suddenly he felt something on his back. It wasn't a physical feeling, more like a warmth that soothed the ache that always came with taking his suit out for a ride.

"Woah, that champagne. Must ask Pepper where she bought this one," he said as he cranked his neck slightly to ease the soreness there.

The gentle warmth on his back slowly moved up to his neck. Thinking it was just the effect of alcohol, Tony ignored it. But the warmth made him crank his neck again, and this time, this movement made his eye catch something in the files. He frowned slightly and used his hands to zoom in on the hologram of the cube.

He knew this, he knew it from his father's files.

As soon as he took that file apart from the others, the warmth came back. "Seriously this champagne," he murmured as he grabbed his glass again and took a great big gulp.

It took a while, but the warmth began to spread. But it wasn't like any other alcohol though. It felt like... well it felt like hands, warm hands kneading his back and neck, taking away the ache. But that was crazy because he was alone.

Tony Tony Tony, he grumbled in his head as he pulled up the file about this cube. There was so much data from S.H.I.E.L.D. but Tony had already seen most of these.

"Ghost of the old man," he grumbled as the memory of Howard Stark threatened to invade is mind right now. "Nope, got homework or else Pepper would never give me any tomorrow night."

But he focused on the task at hand. Or at least he tried to. Because damn the warmth on his body was spreading. In the end he managed. It took him minutes to dissect information he already knew so the tesseract had been easy. But the files of the Avengers took him a while to digest. When he was finally done, the clock had already struck 3 am.

"That long huh?" he grumbled as he glanced at the clock. "Jarvis, lights off," he muttered as he kept the files and then landed on his bed with a soft oomph.

"Sir, might I say that this is pretty early for you to..."

"Can it Jarvis. With all these loonies getting put into action, I'm sure captain tighty pants won't have us sleeping because duty calls. So I'm gonna sleep when I still can."

"Goodnight to you too sir."

And with that the room fell silent. Well as silent as it could be because Tony could hear himself groan from the added pressure on his back.

The warm pressure on his back was back.

There's no one in the room or else Jarvis would have alerted him already. So Tony just discounted it as his brain being overworked, undersexed, or the champagne, or all of that altogether. Or maybe he was dreaming. Yeah maybe that was it.

"Best massage ever... mmph," he groaned as the pressure grew and it was seriously turning into a massage. He was truly dreaming because how else could he imagine such details like hands on his back and... legs. It was moving down, and hell his legs were sore. So it was all good.

Those hands slowly moved down his legs and pressed into his inner thighs.

"Oh yeah," he groaned into his pillow.

Then his eyes lit up. "Ok so if this is a dream, then you're probably gonna have to up your ante. Could a blowjob be included in this?" he chuckled as he turned over on his back.

But his chuckles died down as the ghost hands slowly moved up between his legs. "Holy shit..." he gasped but the pressure on his legs didn't let up. Not only did it not let up. It was slowly getting closer and closer until Tony felt it on his cock.

Tony groaned. What a weird dream this was becoming. But to hell with it. It was his dream, so he could do pretty much anything he wanted right?

So he spread his legs and let the warmth spread easier. "It's my dream, my control right?" As soon as he said that, he felt a sudden tight grip on his cock and he let out a hiss.

"Fuck, no control? Fine, do as you please ghost hands," he grumbled. And the pressure let off.

"Weird dream," he muttered. Only to have a gasp torn from his lips. The ghost hands slowly wrapped around his shaft and stroked. It felt heavenly. It was just right. It was confident and it felt so good, not unlike any other partner or any other wet dream he's ever had.

"Not too tight, gonna cum too soon if you keep that up... ah... said not too tight." But already Tony was writhing. The warmth was keeping a constant pressure on his cock and it was just what he wanted.

These ghost hands knew just what he wanted. What he expected from a wet dream right?

"This is weird, but damn it feels good," he groaned as he felt the pressure tighten again. He didn't need to look to know that he was hard.

He gave another groan, groaning into the silence of his room.

He felt the pressure move some more, caressing up and down, and then a gentle pressure on his balls and the playboy let out a loud moan. This was better than any of the other hand jobs he had ever experienced before.

Then the pressure began to move faster and Tony bucked off the bed unconsciously. "Fuck... that feels good," he groaned as he bucked again, consciously this time. It felt really good and he wanted more.

"M...more..." he groaned.

And that seemed to be the magic word. As soon as he had said that, he felt the touch tighten and move faster on his cock, bringing him closer to release.

Tony gasped as he felt that familiar clenching in his abdomen. "Gotta be a dream, don't cum this fast... ahhh!" he gasped again as the pace picked up some more and he came suddenly.

Then he could swear he could hear a chuckle in the night air. But again, there was no one else but him in this room. So yeah again, part of his dream.

"That was the best imaginary handjob I've gotten," Tony groaned as he laid back down into the sheets.

But it seemed as though his imaginary partner wasn't about to end yet.  
With a warmth to his ear and a tingle on his neck, "Oh this just keeps getting better and better," he groaned.

His eyes fluttered shut as the warmth spread down to his chest and stomach. There was a ghostly touch to his arc reactor. But he barely cared because there was more warmth over his chest. It was more than the fleeting touches earlier. If Tony were to describe it, it felt like a person was lying on his chest. But again, there was no one there, was there?

_Go to sleep...._

Tony's eyes popped open when he heard those words whispered in his ear. Was that in his ear or was that just in his head? 

A light green light sparked close to his ear and flowed down over his eyes that slowly made his eyes feel heavy, heavier than when he first laid there.

_Go to sleep Man of Iron._

"Mmm yeah ok," he mumbled as he finally did doze off to recharge for the chaos that would lay ahead.


	2. Morning After

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> slowly working my way to get the plot moving and Tony finally talks to the voice in his head :) It won't be long Tony :D 
> 
> So yeah, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter as well :) Working on the third one while it's golden week here in Tokyo 
> 
> ~ 
> 
> Reviews are very much appreciated <3

It was the first time in many months that Tony has been able to sleep peacefully. No dreams meant no nightmares. And really Tony has been having a lot of it recently.

Even with Pepper by his side, even with Jarvis in all his advanced capabilities, even with the iron man suit so close, nothing helped his nightmares. Nothing helped stop the images of dying and suffering civilians because of Stark industries.

How many months has it been? Tony couldn't remember. All he knew was that every time, he would wake from his nightmares, his skin glistening with sweat and his throat hoarse as if he's been screaming.

Nothing helped, and Tony was too proud to go to any doctor.

But this morning was different, and it was a good kind of different. 

Tony blinked his groggy eyes. His eyes were blurry, still heavy with sleep. But even with eyes that were functioning at less than 10%, he saw that his computer was turned on. There was a faint image of his arc reactor...

Strange. He remembered turning the computer off last night. And wasn't he looking at the tesseract?

He felt the bed shift slightly. Again strange. Wasn't he alone?

  _Must still be dreaming._

And with that thought, Tony drifted back to sleep. And sleep he did.

It want until hours later that he woke up and he stretched his arms over his head. He let out a deep breath as he blinked to clear his sleep heavy eyes. That was the best sleep he'd had in a few months.

"Jarvis?"

"Good morning to you too sir."

Tony smiled. He felt great. Why? He had no idea. It's just that he felt like he had slept more peacefully today than all those nights before. He had no way of telling for sure, because he didn't have the leisure to go through all of Jarvis's logs. He was a narcissist but he wouldn't watch a sleeping video of himself, especially if said video might contain images of him screaming and writhing because of his nightmares.

Unless there was a security threat. And even then he'd just ask Jarvis to go through the logs and report to him any anomaly. Jarvis would go as far as to analyze them on his own too. That was his programing after all. It was up to Tony to ask him for those analysis reports.

"Sir I should remind you...."

"'I'll take the Mark 6. The Mark 7 isn't ready yet.'

"It should be ready in two week's time."

"Make it one Jarvis," Tony said as he pulled the blanket off and rubbed his face with his hands.

"Sir one week is..."

"Oh I know you'll make it work out somehow."

"As always sir."

Tony chuckled as he pulled his hand down and took a deep breath. He looked down at the sheets and sighed. "All a dream huh?" But the stains in his sheets were obviously real and he sighed again. "Haven't had this problem in a long time," he muttered as he got up and tugged the sheet off the bed. "Never came in my dreams before."

He dropped the soiled linens into the hole in the wall that brought all his dirty laundry down to the central laundry room. Everything was automated here in Stark Tower, as Tony designed it.

He gave his arms another stretch and then walked in the nude to his bathroom. He walked into the shower and the warm water automatically turned on and Tony felt the warm water coming down on him.

The water came down around him and Tony let out a loud sigh. "This feels good," he groaned as the water just did the right thing and helped relax his sore muscles.

_Better than last night?_

Tony froze and his eyes widened slightly. He wasn't dreaming now was he? Unless he had slipped, banged his head, and didn't even realize he was out.

"Fuck, think I'm going crazy."

This time he  _definitely_ heard a chuckle.

Warmth that was too nice to come from the shower (not that the shower wasn't nice, but this was even better), and one that was so familiar for Tony because he just had a first taste last night, started spreading across his back and shoulders.

"Fucking dream," Tony muttered as stretched his back and he felt the warmth spread downwards.

 _Keep telling yourself that._

And with that the warmth spread down to his legs and Tony let out a loud groan. "Fuck..." he cursed as he felt something creeping between his legs and stroking his balls in just the most delicious way possible.

"I got a really perverted mind," he muttered to himself.

Again another chuckle.

The voice he was hearing, it wasn't even right to call it a voice, because it wasn't. It was just something he was hearing in his head. Was this how it was to become crazy? Maybe? Tony didn't want to think he was becoming crazy. But what other explanation was there?

He wasn't a fan of the occult or anything spiritual. Tony's only god was science and that meant he didn't believe in fairy tales about spirits and gods. If it existed then science could prove it, no matter how long it took.

So what was happening to him right now could only be explained through ... well presumed madness? Because there was no one here with him, yet he could so clearly  _feel_ something hold him, touch him, and pleasure him with so much efficiency that it probably wasn't human.

Even the voice itself was strange. He couldn't tell if it was man or woman. It was just. in. his. head. Like having someone else thinking in your mind. There's no way of telling if it's a girl or a boy, except that you know it's not yours.

The warmth slowly changed into phantom hands once more and Tony could just feel long nimble fingers wrapping around his cock and slowly stroking. The pleasure was enough to drag him back from his thoughts, from analyzing the situation. Well what else was there to analyze when Tony couldn't see anything.

A loud groan was pulled from his lips when he felt the phantom hand slowly stroke down his cock, and pressed into his slit. Tony reached out and placed his hands on the tiled wall and took a deep shaky breath. It felt so damn good.

And before he could even scold himself for having such a strange and vivid imagination, Tony began to hump the air. He needed it, he needed more. He wanted more.

Again that damn chuckle and Tony had to growl lowly. "Stop making fun of me."

The chuckling in his mind died down and it was quiet as the pressure around his cock built up. He bit his lip even as a groan slipped out again.

The phantom hand that was working on his cock, slowly gripped tighter and began to move in an even stroke. It wasn't fast and hard, well not yet, and already Tony felt like he was getting close.

"This can't be right," he muttered as he felt the familiar warmth pooling in his abdomen. "Ahh.." he groaned again when the hand began to move faster. "Damn it...shit,..." he cursed as his eyes fluttered close and pleasure coursed through his body.

It wasn't even half as long as actual sex with a woman. But these phantom hands were bringing him to the edge faster than any partner before, both real and imagined, Tony realized. 

"Too fast," he muttered under his breath. 

Those phantom hands stopped and for a moment Tony thought that he was spared the humiliation of reaching his peak this fast by unknown (and unseen) hands. 

But then, that now familiar chuckle rang through his mind. 

_Already done? Don't disappoint me boy._

And with that, the phantom hands moved faster and squeezed his cock tighter. Tony couldn't hold back anymore. And with the last few pumps, he came with a startled gasp. 

His body spasmed as he reached his peak. The walls of his shower stained with white and Tony took deep breaths to calm himself. "Fuck... this is ... some crazy shit." 

_You seem to like it._

Tony groaned. It was right. He did like it. What he didn't like was not knowing what was happening and who or what (if this wasn't a dream borne of insanity) his partner was. 

"Damn it and I wanted the shower to wake me up," he muttered as he drenched himself in water again. 

_Why wake when your dream is so much better?_

Tony groaned. "You're still in my head," he grumbled. "Who are you?" He demanded even as he was still panting from the speed and intensity of the handjob, or whatever that was.

There was silence for a while. But then the voice spoke again. 

_My name isn't important._

"Like hell. I need to know who the hell it is messing with my head," Tony insisted.

_In due time._

Tony rolled his eyes. "That's the same assaying I'll never find out."

_it's not important. You seem to enjoy it even though you know nothing about your partner._

He she whatever it was had a point and Tony didn't want to admit that it did. But there was a strange excitement that came with not knowing or not seeing one's partner. And honestly Tony had played around with similar scenarios before. Blindfolds were an especially kinky route for Tony sometimes when sex became too boring. But that only happened when he at least knew the person's name.

_oh? Blindfolds more your style then?_

Tony's eyes widened slightly. So it can read his mind as well? Well technically it was _in_ his mind to begin with.

"Get out of my head."

_You'll never get me out of your head. No matter what you try._

Tony groaned and rolled his eyes. "Is this like a game to you?" 

_And what if it is? You seem to be enjoying it as much as I do._

"If you turned out to be out of this world ugly then I probably won't be enjoying myself thank you very much. I think you're hiding so I won't be loathed by your ugliness."

 _Funny human. I enjoy these games. I'll come back for them when I get bored again._

Come back. So there would be more. And Tony didn't understand why, all things considered, that notion scared and excited him both at the same time. 

And just like that the presence in his mind vanished. 

Tony sighed. What the hell was wrong with him and why was he talking to a voice in his head? 

"Sir? If I may interrupt your shower, you may want to take a look at this."

Tony shook his head and splashed cold water into his face to wake himself up properly. He turned around and grabbed a towel to dry himself off, while the shower automatically turned itself off. 

"Show it to me Jarvis," Tony said as he quickly wiped himself down and tossed the towel aside. 

And with that, Jarvis activated the hologram that showed Tony Stark all the tracking that S.H.I.E.L.D. was doing. It seemed they were looking for someone, but who it was Tony didn't know yet. 

"My my,someone's busy. Jarvis, keep an eye on everything. Let me know when they get a hit."

"I'll keep you updated sir. Would you like me to pull up everything under the Tesseract sir?"

"Yup, gotta read it all if I wanna learn it all before all the fun begins," Tony said with a smirk. He rubbed his hands together as all the files were pulled out and opened at his disposal. "Now it's time to master thermo nuclear astrophysics. Doesn't seem like too much trouble."


	3. Emerald green

Tony hadn't done an all nighter like this in a long time. His was finishing up on Dr. Selvig's work on the Tesseract. He had to hand it to the good doctor. The findings and research was as detailed as he had hoped. 

He forefinger tapped the warm glass of coffee in his hand. His eyes were focused, but there was no mistaking the dark circles under his eyes. 

Suddenly a loud beeping sound came from one of the screens that depicted SHIELD radar. The beeping sound alerted him of activity and Tony Stark looked up from his reading material.

"Sir, it seems that S.H.I.E.L.D is on the move."

"Where?" Tony asked as he got up and closed all the files pertaining to the Tesseract. He closed the hologram that he was using as an interface and went straight for his suit. He went to the monitor to make some last minute calibrations to his Mark 6. "Any idea who it is they're looking for?"

"Germany sir. They're silent over their comms. All I'm picking up is the ping of their radar."

Tony muttered something under his breath. "They're being cautious. Could be because of the Tesseract. All the more reason to crash the party don't you think?"

"Ms Potts wouldn't agree ..."

Tony laughed at his AI's sense of humor. "Remind me again who you work for?" He took a deep breath and stepped onto the platform, initiating the sequence. He felt the now familiar tightness of his suit. It was a comfort, the smell of the iron casing, the familiar grinding of gears as he got ready, it all served to make him feel more secure and safe. Not that he was safe as Tony Stark. But the human body could only take on so much damage. 

"Got the coordinates Jarvis?"

"Already uploaded to your system sir."

Tony smiled. "Good, time to rock and roll baby," he said as the mask sealed over his face and fully activated the Iron Man suit. With that, he activated his thrusters and blasted off, into the night. 

 

*

Tony didn't know the target, but as soon as he reached the coordinates Jarvis had laid out for him, he immediately saw the Quinjet. Hm, interesting. It wasn't an all out S.H.I.E.L.D armada. He expected more, especially after all that speech from Fury last time telling him how unqualified he was. But maybe this wasn't such a big target? 

With a smirk, he made Jarvis hack into the PA system of the Quinjet. Oh perfect, just one person in there, and someone he knew so well, or not, depending on how you defined "know". Because this person was buried under a lot of layers and seriously Tony doubted if anyone really knew her at all. 

"Agent Romanoff. You miss me?" he said into his mouthpiece, and he knew she heard him. He could already imagine her rolling her eyes as his AC/DC music blasted over her PA system. 

He was flashy. He couldn't help it. 

It wasn't easy to miss the two fighting men beneath the Quinjet. He saw the star and the blue costume and Tony had to roll his eyes. The Soldier with a big capital letter S. The man his father obsessed about. He now took back what he said about this not being a big target. Any super soldier his father made (thank god there's only one), could hold off more than any S.H.I.E.L.D battalion could, no matter how big. 

His father was an asshole of a dad, but he knew his thing. 

Tony aimed at the ... was that a man wearing a helmet with two horns sticking out like an elk? Tony didn't know if he was stepping into a fight or a drunken costume party, and he knows he's had his share of that in the past. 

Whatever. 

He aimed and shot, throwing the man back towards the concrete. 

And the man was still alive. He saw him stand and he saw him sit up. Guess he wasn't just a normal guy after all. 

Tony landed in front of him and activated most of his firepower and aimed. "Make your move Reindeer Games," he said as he felt Steve move to his side.

Then, if Tony wasn't there, if he hadn't seen it with his bare eyes, he would say it was a trick. But the armor that the man had on, even those ridiculous horns, vanished into nothing but a glimmer of gold. And Tony saw it disappear. 

This was going to be a long long night. 

But now that the armor and helmet was gone, Tony finally recognized him from the files Coulson gave him last night. S.H.I.E.L.D didn't give him much intel on the man. Except that he was from out of this world and that he was after the Tesseract.

For now, the man had his hands up in surrender and he stopped himself from shooting him. "Good move," he said as put down his arms as well. 

"Mr Stark."

Ah yes, introductions. They were never properly introduced yet after all. 

"Captain."

As Tony put down his arms and his weapons, Steve nodded at him. "Secure him, I'll go tell SHIELD that we already have it under control."

Tony didn't like being told what to do. But the fight was done and it wasn't like there wasn't anything else he could do. At least his presence had made the enemy surrender. 

Tony smirked inside his suit. Made him surrender when the captain wasn't able to. That was one point for him. 

He didn't respond to Steve but as soon as he took the first step forward, Steve already knew that he was going to secure Loki. So Steve went back to the Quinjet to inform Natasha about Loki's capture.

Tony walked towards Loki. Now that his armor was gone, Tony was finally able to see him properly. Pale skin, long slender legs and arms, slick black hair, and the greenest eyes Tony has ever seen.

He looked too... Perfect to be human. It was like he was molded from the best wax there was. Or he had a reallllly good dermatologist or plastic surgeon. There was no wrinkle on his face, no blemish, no nothing.

And those eyes. 

Tony has seen his share of green eyes. Those were too green to be human. It was like staring at a pair of emerald gems instead of eyes. 

The man wasn't intimidating. No, Tony Stark was never intimated. It was more than that.

It was his presence.

There was something about it that Tony could not place his finger on. And it worries Tony slightly to think that there was someone who could carry himself with such a presence. He wasn't human that was for sure. 

At first he didn't want to believe what the files had said. That this man was a god from Asgard. Tony felt really stupid for even believing what the files said for a moment but now that he's seen the god, he was starting to understand the weight of this problem. 

If someone like this got the Tesseract... 

At that moment, the green eyes that were looking down at the ground finally raised. It swept over his armor before settling on his helmet.

And Tony could swear he could see him inside the suit. 

And the intensity of it... Tony couldn't place it. It was like those eyes could pierce him, that was how intense it was. He was really thankful that he had his suit on, because he didn't know what kind of face he had on right now in the presence of such intensity.

"Congratulations, you've caught me."

That voice was smooth, smoother than Tony had ever heard someone speak before. This man, god, could sweet talk a lesser man to his death, that was for sure. 

Thank God Tony Stark wasn't a lesser man.

"Yup, fun and games is over. Get up," Tony said as he approached.

The thin lips curved slightly upwards and Loki stood up. Without his armor he looked less bulky, but his presence stayed the same. 

There was something about that smile that told Tony that fun and games wasn't over yet. And that unnerved him somewhat. He couldn't let his guard down. 

Loki's eyes flicked over to him again. "I am your prisoner yet you let me walk freely?"

Tony rolled his eyes. Who cares about specifics?

Then Loki's hand moved. The long slender fingers danced across the iron plating on Tony's forearm. "A man of iron and metal, interesting," the god all but purred. 

Tony pulled his hand back, quickly. He didn't know what it was. He shouldn't feel the touch because of his armor. But he did. and that unnerved Tony.

"Get moving Rock of Ages," Tony muttered.

"Of course. Don't want to keep anyone waiting now do we?" 

Tony knew that tone. It was dripping with mischief. And he'd done his research. In Norse mythology, Loki was the god of mischief right? Seriously this night was getting stranger by the minute if he was starting to believe in folklore.

"Exactly, now hurry it up or ..."

"Or what? You'll carry me man of iron?" 

"I'll break your legs then drag you there."

"That isn't very romantic."

Again Tony rolled his eyes. "No one wants romance here, and certainly not with you. And I would much prefer a pretty thing with tits and a nice booty. Now get moving."

This time Loki's lips curled into a smirk. He didn't speak, he just smirked at Tony and then started to walk.

He clenched his fist. He could still "feel" the god's touch linger on his arm. 

Tony didn't like this. Nope he didn't like this at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yey they finally meet!  
> Tony doesn't know what's going on with Loki but Loki surely knows hahahah. First step!  
> Let's see where this takes them :)


	4. Damn Good Hands

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I was writing the drafts for the chapters, I really wanted to stay as faithful as I could to the movies. But it was starting to feel like a copy and paste dialogue from the Avengers movie, so I'm going to take the liberty to change things a bit. I'll retain some dialogue, but change others. I hope you guys don't mind ^^. I just didn't want to write a page by page of the movie we all watched and loved. 
> 
> And also, I am so sorry for the delay!!!! I already have drafts all the way up to chapter 8, it was this chapter that kept holding back updates >.> I have written pwp and smut fics before but this one, this one just wouldn't come out right >.

 

 

* * *

 

  
  
And Tony was right. Wasn't he always?

 

He didn't like this night at all.

  
First of all, his suit was damaged.

  
Second, Loki was almost taken. Ok, given that Thor didn't succeed in the end and Loki was brought back to the Quinjet anyway. But that wasn't the point.

  
Third. Well. He didn't really forget how uneasy he had felt when he mentioned "My stuff" to Thor. It was like there were eyes watching him. He didn't dare think that it was the mysterious "thing" who visited him the other night. But what if it was? If it had made itself known during battle, how awkward would that have been?

  
When they all got to the Helicarrier,  Loki was chained and led away by guards. Steve went to wherever, along with Thor. Natasha probably went off to report to Nick Fury. Tony was escorted to one of the rooms. So it seems he wasn't being thrown out of the party. Yey.

  
"Hm, not bad," he commented as he was brought on board. His eyes scanned the aircraft and he had to give his nod of approval. Some of the tech used was "borrowed" from Stark Industries after all. Now that he minded. Ok he minded (not for the money, but whatever the hell it was S.H.I.E.L.D. could do behind his back.) But if it made this ship work, then by all means. He didn't want to die a premature death because of a second rate carrier with Hammer Tech... that carrier probably wouldn't even make it to lift off.

  
Tony shivered at the thought of getting into a carrier that good for nothing Hammer designed.

  
Before moving to his room, Tony made sure to see that his suit was carefully put away. The docking area for his suit was crude, unlike the one he had at home. This one was obviously hastily put together. Well what do you know, they had prepared for him to join them, even if it was last minute. 

He placed the suit inside carefully. Jarvis wasn't there to help him, but he could do it himself.

  
After he had secured his suit, Tony made his way back to his temporary quarters on this ship. It wasn't fancy. But what was he hoping for? This was a ship after all, military grade. Although, if he did have a hand in the designs....

  
Tony chuckled to himself and shook his head. No way Fury would let him have a hand in this whatsoever. They had made it clear before that they needed Iron Man, and maybe all of Stark Tech, but not Tony. "Ain't no Stark Industries without the brain behind it," he had said when he read that report back then. Well now he was part of the team, Fury was actually desperate enough to overturn his own decision about Tony before even if it was done last minute. Though he doubted if he was allowed to tinker with the Quinjet or the Helicarrier.

  
The room looked simple enough. There was a bunk bed. Yup, this was made for two people. But maybe Fury thought he wouldn't play along well with anyone else and just left him to bunk alone. All the better for Tony. He didn't like to share... unless there was sex involved, or a lot of science.

The room was a dull gray. Obviously home decor and interior design had no place in a battleship. There was one desk, no windows, and a shower room.

"No computer, radio, or tv. Seriously, how can I live here?" Tony had asked himself as soon as he saw it. But he had to make do.

Tony closed the door behind him, calling up Jarvis as soon as the door slid shut. Jarvis may not be on board with him, but he was still connected to his AI either via his Iron Man helmet or the device on his wrist. "Remind me to consider stronger metal for the outer layer of the Mark 7."

  
"I doubt any known metal would stand a chance against that hammer sir."

  
"Who said anything about a hammer?"

  
There was silence from the AI and Tony laughed.

  
"No hammer. I just want to upgrade the defense system."

  
"If you say so sir."

  
Tony shook his head. If he knew better, he'd say the AI had no sense of humor. He sat down on the chair by the desk and activated the hologram on the device on his wrist. "Display damage."

  
And as soon as he saw it, he winced inwardly. That much damage from such a quick fight. How many upgrades should he take note of? "We don't have all the equipment we need to make a complete fix, but we can check what they have here on the ship and we'll have to make do."

  
"Sir, based on my diagnostics, we should be able to repair it."

  
"Good. As long as I can use it, it should be fine. We can do the full repair when we get home."  Tony shrank the huge hologram down to a smaller scale one and had it hover above the desk so it was easier to access. "Jarvis, can you check what equipment they have on board so we can see which repairs can be done now and which ones I have to postpone till later?"

  
_Is that all you really want to learn?_

  
Tony froze. There it was again.

  
He took a deep breath. He was on the Helicarrier. If there was an intruder, Fury and his agents would be all over it. And, Jarvis couldn't do a full sweep unless he was inside the mainframe of the ship, he couldn't scan the ship from a remote location. And getting him into the mainframe was not gonna happen in Fury's watch.

  
He didn't respond, and was rewarded with silence. He thought he was alone again. But when it spoke once more, a few minutes out, Tony felt his hair stand on end.

 

 _Jarvis won't be able to do much. It's not your ship Stark_. _But are you not at all curious as to what the good Director is hiding?_

  
It knew his name. It knew about Jarvis. It knew what he was doing right now.

 

_Of course I do boy, I'm in your head, have you forgotten? You let me in so easily._

  
Tony tried to push his chair back and move away from the table, but he couldn't. He felt the chair stop there, unmoving, as if someone was holding it in place. "Now isn't the time for...."

  
_Why not? What to do with all this adrenaline from fighting the soldier and my b - that baffoon?_

  
Tony promptly felt  the (familiar by now) warm pressure rub down his shoulders, squeezing with just the right pressure to squeeze the muscles before his pain threshold. "Are we downplaying to massages now?" Tony groaned as he felt those hands knead his muscles. He tried to squirm free. But the hold on him tightened whenever he tried to.

  
_Well no. But I will not have you this tense._

  
Tony felt his body, the traitorous bastard, relax under the warm touches. It didn't take long for the pressure to go lower and massage his lower back, further relaxing his tense body.

  
But then, as he felt the pressure move forward to his shoulders and pecs, it suddenly felt... real. Well the other times he got this phantom treatment, it felt like it was just there. Hell it felt good. But it never felt like there was another person in there with him. He felt the warmth, he felt the pleasures, he felt the pressure. But this time, he felt more than that.

He felt distinctly long fingers pressing on to his skin.

  
And he definitely felt another person settling on his lap. "Fu...fuck... this is crazy," he muttered, as someone he couldn't see just climbed on to his lap and press closer to his body. He could feel the pressure from a pair strong thighs pinning his own down on the chair and Tony took a deep breath.

He should really get out of here.That was the logical thing to do. The safe thing.  
  
But since when was Tony playing on the safe side?

  
So instead of moving away, of fighting the touches, he reached out towards his front, towards that empty space where  there was supposed to be nothing.

  
And Tony let out a surprised sound when he felt what was unmistakeably a body, a body on his, a body pinning his own down on the chair.

  
"This can't be real, holy shit," he groaned as the pressure became heavier, forcing him to stay down on the chair.

  
_Yes it is real, the quicker you accept that the easier this will be for you._

  
"And you're still speaking to me in my head. What the hell ....fuck is ahhh this?" Tony couldn't help but moan as the hands slipped under his shirt and touched his skin. It didn't feel like pressure anymore. It felt like real fucking hands, and long slender fingers caressing his skin.  
  
_What Stark? You enjoyed this all the other times, just close your eyes and feel_.  
  
Tony let out a shaky breath when he felt the fingers ghost over his nipple, first one then another. He never considered himself to be a nipple play kind of guy. But the way these hands worked him, it just undid him so easily.

  
His nipples were erect and sensitive in no time, and Tony let out another shaky breath as those fingers moved to tug and pinch now. "Sh...shit..." he groaned. Because just as the pinching started, he felt the pressure on his crotch. It felt like a knee, and that knee was rubbing his clothed erection in the most delicious of ways.

  
There was silence from his invisible visitor but Tony could feel that the touches were getting more pronounced. Each stroke, each rub, each pinch, managed to send jolts of pleasure down his spine. "Who are ... you?" Tony groaned the question.

  
Again silence, but the next action had Tony gasping and forgetting his question. He felt a hand reach down into his pants, he didn't even realize that the button and zipper was getting undone, and it quickly pushed away his thoughts. "Fuck!" he gasped, as he brought his arm up and used it to cover his mouth. Because he wasn't home, and to hell with anyone who heard him on this ship. He didn't want S.H.I.E.L.D. to have a record of how he sounded when he was having fun.

  
The hand carefully and expertly stroked his cock in a way that Tony had never been stroked before. Not even comparable to how his one night stands did it, hell... it wasn't even comparable to what his invisible visitor had done just the previous night and the morning after, and those two were already mind blowing as mind blowing was.

 

_There we go. Just enjoy it boy._

  
"Sh...shut ...i...ahhhhh~!" Tony gasped as he jerked into that expert hand. He was getting close, too damn fast, again! The  hand moved down to casually tug on his balls, earning another gasp of pleasure from Tony, and another twitch from his already too sensitive cock.  
His body, his damn traitorous body was being played like a fucking instrument. And before he could curse his own weakness, his mind was becoming muddled in pleasure and his hips rolling into that invisible hand that was stroking him to completion with such expert ease.

  
Tony wanted to know who he was. He wanted to know a name at least. Or at least proof that this invisible person, creature, whatever it was was real and not just a twisted figment of his imagination.  
  
But all questions faded from his conscious mind as a wave of pleasure washed over him and he came with a strangled cry,  and the hands disappeared as a whispered warning flickered across his mind.  
  
_Stay away from the beast._


	5. S.H.I.E.L.D Secrets

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, slightly different from the movie, but moving in the same general direction :)  
> comments are always welcome :)

* * *

 

 

_But are you not at all curious as to what the good Director is hiding?_

That question haunted Tony far more than the thought of his phantom lover as soon as he recovered from what could have been the most mind blowing hand job he's ever had.

What did he know? What did anyone know about S.H.I.E.L.D.?

Nothing.

Could you really trust a spy?

Well, he could doubt if Romanoff or Barton even knew half of what was happening in S.H.I.E.L.D. He doubted that spies were honest with other spies. So Fury must be keeping them in the dark about a lot of things as well. Eyepatch was the big bad father of spies after all.

.... _what the good Director is hiding?_

Tony grit his teeth as he realized the simple answer.

Nothing. He knew nothing about S.H.I.E.L.D.

He knew something about the other candidates in the Avengers Initiative, but even those were information that Fury had given to him so Tony didn't know if he should trust all of it or not. And surely Fury was keeping things from him too given the vague background he had put in Romanoff and Barton's files.

Ok so tiny pieces of the truth about the Avengers.  
  
But about S.H.I.E.L.D., nothing.

And Tony Stark hated knowing nothing.

"Jarvis?" he called out.

"Yes sir," the AI's voice was softer because it was just coming out of the devise on his wrist.  Not Jarvis at 100% but it would do. He trusted his AI and his programming skills above anything else after all.

"You're going to get really busy."

*

Tony could feel his heart thudding hard against his chest. It was a bold move, putting Jarvis up to hack S.H.I.E.L.D. He was confident in his creation's hacking skills, but it still had him worried somehow.

There was always a risk of being hacked back. But S.H.I.E.L.D didn't have anyone smart enough in their employ as far as Tony knew. That eased his worries a little bit. And somehow he had pulled it off. It's been a few hours, and no one was sounding the alarm.

"You seem distracted."

Tony looked up from his screen and smirked at Bruce. "You haven't known me enough to know how I look like when I'm distracted," he said, voice haughty and not showing an ounce of his own distraction and uncertainty.

Bruce smiled from where he was standing. "I've observed enough people to know Mr. Stark."

"Tony."

"I'll try."

Tony huffed and walked closer to Bruce. "I jumped from Dr Banner to Bruce in less than five minutes. We've been holed up in here for a few hours already and you still can't call me by my first name?"

"As you can see we're both really busy. So it's not really the best time for socializing."

"Busy with what? We've already recalibrated all the sensors to detect gamma radiation," Tony muttered as he toyed with a small electric rod in his hand. It was used for testing but Tony wasn't using it for testing at all. He was bored, being cooped up here for hours without any of his usual machines to tinker with. He was a hands on man and just looking at tests and readings on a screen was boring him to death. Recalibrating had been too easy. And as with any other genius mind, giving an easy task will just bore them so quickly.

 

"Can't we at least play with that?" Tony finally asked when he realized Bruce  wouldn't grace him with an answer as the good doctor was already looking at his screens and adjusting data instead of looking at Tony.

Bruce looked up, saw where Tony was pointing, and quickly said, "No."

"Whyyyy?" Tony was whining and he knew. "Because Eyepatch said so?"

"Because we don't know what it can do for certain. Not yet. We need to study it more."

Tony looked longingly at the staff and sighed. "I'm a hands on kind of guy."

"It's alien tech. Might blast off your hand if you're not careful."

Tony sighed and rolled his eyes. "You don't think I can handle it."

"I don't think anyone could handle it," Bruce sighed as he turned his attention back to the monitor and raised some of the gauges to see the reaction in Gamma radiation from the sensors. The scepter sat in the very center of the tables, as the machines tried and failed to analyze it. And Tony really wanted to get his hands on it because it seemed to be the only thing worth his time in this damn room.

Tony sighed as he toyed with the electrical rod in his hands. Then, getting an idea, he got up and walked towards Bruce. "You know, if you like this lab, you're going to love Stark Tower. It's gonna be like candyland. You can get a whole floor to yourself and all the machines and gadgets you'd need for your research. "

"I don't think you'd want to share your home with the other gu.... hey!" Bruce gasped as he felt the sharp pain from the electric rod.

"Nothing?" Tony asked as he looked into Bruce's eyes to check if there was a flash of green or anything.

He could swear he heard a chuckle behind his ear as he stared Bruce down. But before he could even dwell on it, that his invisible visitor was following him around now, Rogers promptly walked in.

Well walk was an understatemen. He stormed in, obviously upset with something.

"You want to have us all killed Stark?" he demanded and Tony rolled his eyes.

Oh captain captain captain. Tony, completely distracted from the chuckle he heard before, focused on his father's perfect soldier.

"Hello to you too Spangles."

Bruce interruped with a softly said, "I'm ok. I wouldn't have agreed to board the ship if I couldn't handle pointy things," as he went back to his data.

"That does not warrant any childish behaviour from Stark."

Tony rolled his eyes. He really wanted to punch Mr Perfect to kingdom come. But he wouldn't stand a chance without his suit.

"Childish. Of course, coming from a what... 80 year old capsicle? give or take a few years?"

Tony could see how Rogers' jaw tightened. Oh he was starting to get pissed. This really was one of Tony's special skills wasn't it?

"Shouldn't you be looking for the Tesseract? You really need to focus on the problem Mr. Stark."

"You think I'm not? Oh I'm focusing on the problem. Million dollar question. What is S.H.I.E.L.D. doing with the Tesseract in the first place? "

Rogers was quiet for a while as he seemed to take in Tony's question instead of reacting mindlessly. His annoyed face quickly shifting to a concerned one as he asked, "You think he's hiding something?"

"Yes Captain Obvious. Or should I say Captain Oblivious," Tony smirked as he raised his hand and waved it around them. "It isn't just coincidence all of this. Bruce's concerned too."

Rogers turned to Bruce.. "Doctor?"

Bruce sighed and removed his glasses so he could massage the bridge of his nose. "Don't tell me this doesn't sound at least a little suspicious to you captain? The Tesseract's been with S.H.I.E.L.D. for a while according to Dr Selvig's notes. We were given the files from his studies, but there was nothing there about the uses of the Tesseract. They made us understand how it worked, or at least the theories, but what it could be used for,  what it was capable of, they never even mentioned it."

 

Rogers regarded Bruce with a calm although resigned look. And Tony knew that look. It meant that even the good captain was having his doubts.

"A warm light for all mankind," Bruce continued. "Loki's jab at Fury, it felt like it was meant for you," he said as he looked at Tony. "Those were the words you used when you launched the Stark Tower, a warm light for all mankind, stable renewable energy."

"Stark tower, that ugly...."

"Don't even think of finishing that sentence," Tony muttered at Rogers.

"Now I doubt Fury or S.H.I.E.L.D is in the energy saving business," Bruce continued.

"And that begs the question. What is he hiding. What is S.H.I.E.L.D hiding?" Tony added, his eyes trailed on Rogers, reading the expressions on his face. "What will they use the Tesseract for?"

"How do you intend to find out? It's not like he's going to answer just because we asked," Rogers said, brows furrowed. He was thinking about it, obviously concerned about this as well.

"Jarvis."

"Your computer?"

"He's technically not, well he's a program, artificial intelligence, and.... never mind," Tony trailed off as Roger's expression looked so lost that Tony felt he was being generous for stopping. "Yes my computer. He's already hacking into S.H.I.E.L.D's system as we speak. In a few minutes, I'll know every little secret S.H.I.E.L.D's trying to hide."

Rogers frowned slightly at that. "And you wonder why they don't trust you."

Tony barked out a laugh. "And you think they trust you any more than me?"

Rogers pursed his lips and Tony shook his head. "I know you don't approve my methods, but even you must think that there's something out of place here in S.H.I.E.L.D."

Rogers let out a sigh and stood up."Just stay out of trouble," he muttered before leaving the room and heading out to the corridor.

Tony raised an eyebrow and then looked at Bruce. "I guess that's the closest we'd get to approval?"

Banner just sighed and went back to his work. "I think it sounded more like a dad telling the kids to stay out of trouble."

"That was verbatim."

BAnner sighed again and went back to his data.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, you may notice that I use Rogers (last name) and then Bruce and Tony (first name) . I tend to stay with how Tony would refer to them. He would call Bruce by his first name, but he would not do that with the SHIELD agents or captain yet, not yet :D


	6. Puzzle Pieces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki finally makes his move when the pieces all come into place.

  
Romanoff felt her heart thudding in her chest. The man.. no this god, looked like he was harmless. He wasn't as big as Thor, nor did he look as strong as Rogers. Instead he was lanky and rather slender, and this frame on someone else would look downright harmless, given the amount of testosterone she had to work with on a daily basis.  But there was something about him that frightened Romanoff in ways that no other target ever had.  
  
And Romanoff knew from experience that underestimating anyone could end your life. So she never did, no matter how weak a target seemed to be.  
  
Romanoff kept her calm demeanor, no reason to make the prisoner think that she was so nervous on the inside. If there was anyone who was a master of schooling her emotions, it was Romanoff.  
  
"My my, came to gloat?"  
  
That voice filtered through the air and Romanoff felt a shiver run down her spine. There was something about Loki. She remembered Thor's words about his brother - Silver Tongue, Liesmith. Romanoff felt no hostility from Thor when he said that though, it was as if telling her his brother was a big fat liar was a normal thing.

Perhaps it was.  And because of this, even though Romanoff had never really spoken with him before, it was better to be cautious, more cautious than she was with other targets.  
  
Loki had only begun to speak, and Romanoff was prepared to bring her A game. If it was a war of words and facades, Romanoff would win this. If Loki was a liesmith, then the Widow would spin her own web of lies.  
  
"I came... with a request."  
  
Or so she thought.  
  
"Ah, the spider comes to bargain for the hawk?"  
  
Damn this man was good. Was Romanoff too obvious? Or had he really taken control of Barton enough for him to reveal his and Romanoff's working relationship? Romanoff felt one too many questions running through her mind and this was not good.  
  
Loki raised an eyebrow as he asked his question, his green eyes staring at Romanoff, following her every move. Then his lips slowly formed a small smirk. "Why yes, if you wonder how I know. Barton told me everything."  
  
Romanoff felt her blood run cold. Yes Barton was compromised, but it wasn't what made her worried. She was already prepared for that. What really worried her was that Loki COULD read her this easily.  
  
"Do not fret little spider," Loki purred, obviously enjoying this game. "I will not kill your hawk." His eyebrow lowered and a mischievous glint sparkled in his eyes. "Now humor me little spider. Tell me, what is there to gain by bringing me here on board this aircraft? Are you not worried? if I were to bring down this plane, would you be able to do something about it?"  
  
"I'm not a genius with machines like Stark is," Romanoff muttered, not liking that she didn't know where this conversation was headed.She always wanted to know where a conversation was headed, that way she could prepare for it.  "But we won't let you bring this bird down. That's why you're in there."  
  
"Stark, indeed," Loki murmured, his eyes moving away from Natasha and focusing on the wall beside her for a moment. And then it was back to her as if his gaze never moved. .    
  
And again Natasha felt her blood run cold as Loki's lips curled up into a grin. "Now that everyone's gathered around us, maybe it's time for some fireworks? I would love to see you all tear each other apart. Especially that huge green beast you've brought on board."  
  
Romanoff frowned. "So...Banner. That's your play?"  
  
It unnerved her how Loki's grin just got wider. "Indeed it is. You seem so confident that you have me in this cage. But what you're really worried about is what's outside. You've put me in his cage which is obviously not built for me as your beloved director has oh so conveniently told me earlier, now I wonder what you will do when the good doctor gets... out of control?"  
  
  
\-----  
  
Tony felt like a child with a toy. As soon as Jarvis told him the hack was complete, he immediately plugged his mobile device to the display in the lab where he and Banner were working.It was always fun to look around other people's secrets.  
  
Especially S.H.I.E.L.D's secrets.  
  
But this wasn't all of them, Tony realized with a small frown.... somehow there were some files that were too encrypted for Jarvis to work on via mobile. If Jarvis had direct access this would be easier.  But Jarvis was only connected remotely via the mobile device and wasn't at his full hacking capability.  Jarvis managed to get through the 4th encryption. But there were some files that were even deeper than that.  If Stark wanted to learn ALL of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secrets, then he had to get Jarvis into the SHIELD mainframe directly.  
  
He had to access those files next time.  
  
Besides, he already found the information he wanted to find at the moment.  
  
His hands stilled over the monitor and he felt a cold sweat form on his skin, the excitement frome earlier gone now as he absorbed all this new information. "Obadaiah all over again," he muttered.  
  
Bruce looked up from his work. "Oba what?"  
  
Tony ran his hand across his face, trying to calm himself as thoughts of Obadiah Stane filled his mind.  
"This is not happening again," he growled lowly. Advanced tech was really a menace when put in the hands of idiots, or geniuses with a homicidal tendency. Tony was just glad he was neither.  
  
"Are those what I think they are?"  
  
Tony turned to look at Bruce as the doctor came closer to the monitor. Banner had a calm look on his face, but his eyes told a totally different story. Tony could see the anger in them. And though he felt a sliver of fear deep within at the idea of Banner getting angry, he really couldn't blame him. Tony felt a whole lot of angry right now too.  
  
"Clean energy huh?" Tony joked. But it came out dry and forced.  
  
"Aren't you two supposed to be looking for the Tesseract?"  
  
"Woah, deja vu, I swear someone just asked me that like 30 minutes ago," Tony said as he looked up from the screen and towards the glowering figure of Nick Fury. He smirked at the man as he turned the screen around so Nick could see what he was looking at. "But really, you're just the man we needed to see. Care to explain Phase 2?"  
  
"Phase 2 is S.H.I.E.L.D producing Nuclear weapons," Rogers completed as he dragged two weapons that looked like some of the prototypes Tony had found in the S.H.I.E.L.D files. This confirmed it. S.H.I.E.L.D was manufacturing weapons, nuclear weapons based on the Tesseract. And it made Tony's blood boil.  
  
"Are you planning on taking over the market that I vacated? You never struck me as a businessman. Want to take over my title as the Merchant of Death too? With the eyepatch and all?"  
  
Tony's tone was teasing, but the underlying anger in it was obvious enough for everyone in the room.  
  
"Care to explain yourself Director?" Steve asked as he placed the weapons on the table.  
  
Fury opened his lips to speak but wasn't able to as both Thor and Romanoff burst into the room.  
  
"Dr Banner, I need you to come with me."  
  
Tony watched as Banner turned his wide angry eyes from Fury to Romanoff. "Why? Because I'm questioning why SHIELD is building weapons of mass destruction?"  
  
Romanoff frowned slightly as she took in the angry look in Banner's eyes and the tense atmosphere in the room. She didn't know what was happening but she knew she had to get Banner out of here, at least to a less stressful environment and as far away from Loki as possible. "Bruce, Loki is manipulating you..."  
  
Loki is manipulating you. Those words drifted to Tony's mind like an annoying itch. Loki, the trickster god, capable of manipulating...  
  
But Tony was unable to dwell on that thought as everyone began to speak at the same time, arguing with each other and the noise gradually snapped him out of his own thoughts.  
  
Then Tony noticed something. The scepter wasn't on its stand anymore.  
  
His eyes widened slightly and he took a deep breath when he realized who was holding it. And no one else noticed because everyone was arguing with everyone else.  
  
"Bruce."  
  
"What?!" came the angry response, and Tony saw that Banner's anger filled eyes focus on him now.  
  
Tony took another deep breath. Boy, even in this form, Bruce could be frightening, if only because of what you knew came after all this anger. "Put down the scepter," he said as slowly and as gently as he could.  
  
The wild look in Bruce's eyes calmed down slightly as the weight of Tony's words settled in his mind. He looked down at his hand and was about to speak, but the beeping sound from the scanners beat him to it.  
  
"Finally," he muttered as he placed the scepter back on to its stand and walked over to the monitor.  
  
"Well that was entertaining."  
  
"Stark, don't start," Romanoff muttered as she and the others turned their attention to Banner.  
  
Banner put on his glasses and looked at the data displayed on the monitor. his forehead creased as he looked at the screen. "This can't be right..." he muttered.  
  
Tony leaned in to peak at the data. "It's gotta be malfunctioning, there's no way it's this close to...!"  
  
Tony failed to finish his sentence as an explosion rocked the ship. It knocked everyone off their feet. Tony felt his head throbbing and his ears ringing from the explosion. And it took him a good few minutes to scramble to his feet. He was so rocked that he didn't even mind Rogers' hand reaching for his and helping him up.  
  
"Thanks," he murmured as he let Rogers pull him out and they both quickly ran out of the destroyed room.  
  
"Get in your suit," Rogers said quickly. It was minute, but Tony noted the shortness of breath. So even the super soldier could get affected by blasts like these. Tony would smile to that in hindsight. Right now he had more important things to take care of.  
  
"I'll meet you outside," he said quickly as he separated from Steve and ran to where his suit was stored. He opened the hatch and a wave of relief flowed through him.  
  
Tony may have it all, but he was still an ordinary mortal. Between the spies, the gods, the super soldier and the thing that Banner becomes, Tony felt like an easy squishable human with no special skills but for his wit.  
  
That's why the Iron Man suit made him feel relief, because with it he could fight, with it he could stand on equal ground with all these miracles of science, history and mythology.  
  
"What a crazy world you live in Tony Stark," he muttered to himself as he stepped inside the suit and powered it up.  
  
"Jarvis?"  
  
"Scanning complete sir, the engine is not functioning properly. If we lose one more engine I don't think the aircraft can maintain lift."  
  
"We can't have that now can we?"  
  
"Stark, the engine...."  
  
"Already on my way Fury," he muttered as the director butted in. They must already be implementing the earpieces he had proposed before because how else would Fury be able to get into his line?. He wasn't told that it was implemented, but again surprise surprise, SHIELD was full of secrets.  
  
"Cap, meet me at the 2nd engine," Tony said as he burst through the opening in the ship left by the blast and sped through the air, going straight for the damaged engine.

 

This was going to be a long day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First, this became way longer than expected originally so I forced myself to cut it into two chapters instead. I try to put out shorter chapters for easier and lighter reading, especially when the plot thickens. 
> 
> Second, I will have to apologize that the number of intimate moments between Tony and Loki will have to take a back seat to plot, which I hope you guys won't mind :)
> 
> Third, I had to make Tony unable to hack all the S.H.I.E.L.D files, to explain the Winter Soldier Arc later on, look forward to that :) 
> 
> Again, comments are appreciated <3  
>  


	7. Him

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will Tony finally put two and two together?

  
Tony was pissed, mightily so. Because everyone else was fighting and he has beenv stuck repairing the stupid engine for the past twenty minutes. It wasn't like he enjoyed fighting, he really didn't. But it felt kind of weird that everyone was hogging all the action and Tony Stark was left doing repairs.  
   
So he was the only one who could do it and if he didn't then the Helicarrier would just drop from the sky.  Of course he was proud that other than him, no one else could fix this bird. But still... it kind of irked him that he was the only one left out of the action.  
  
"How does it look?" Steve's voice broke him out of his thoughts.

Ok not the only one.

  
Tony scanned the destroyed engine. It wasn't completely totalled. In fact, the only reason it stopped was because of debris that lodged between two of the rotor blades. Tony inhaled deeply. That blast earlier was strong enough to destroy the engine properly. It was by some sort of luck that the only damage was this and it was easily fixable.  
  
"Not as bad as it looks," Tony said as he looked at where Steve was standing.  
  
"What's wrong with it?"  
  
"Jammed. I just need to get rid of the debris and I should be able to give the rotor blades a push until it restarts."  
  
"Need help?"  
  
Tony wanted to tease him. Like what help could he do when he hardly knew anything about modern technology. But this wasn't the right time for it, not at all, not even for Tony. They had to get this fixed.  
  
"Yeah, actually I do. Open that  ... that electric box in front of you. That big dark menta looking Box thing. See it?"  
  
"Electric box? Yeah I see it. Should I open it?"  
  
"Yup, open it." Tony's mind raced. How. Just how in the world should he dumb it down so that Rogers would understand and not make this even worse? If he pressed the wrong button, touched the wrong wire, it could make everything worse not better. But at least Rogers was just a man out of time, if Thor was here Tony just dreaded having to explain modern day electrical wiring to the fucking god of lightning.  
  
"I see wires, it must run on some sort of electricity."  
  
Genius.  
  
"Got that right cap. Now see that red lever on the side? I need you to pull that when I say you do. If not that engine is gonna pull me in and rip me to shreds."  
  
"Got it Stark.I've got your back."  
  
"You better. Coz I don't wanna go down like this."  
  
And with that Tony stepped into the banged up engine. He used his sensors to scan it again. He could see it, that large metal plate that had conveniently lodged itself between the blades of the engine rotors.  
  
Tony went closer to the debris and tried to push it off. But it wouldn't budge.  
  
"Son of a..."  
  
Tony powered up his boosters, trying to gain more lift. It still wouldn't budge.  
  
"This won't be easy," he muttered as he pulled back. He looked at the protruding metal and grumbled. "And here I thought I could just push it off and walk away."  
  
"That's not going to happen sir."  
  
"Jarvis, when did you turn into Pepper?"  
  
"You programmed me sir, not Ms Potts."  
  
"Yeah yeah I did," Tony muttered as he checked the thickness of the slab and calculated how much energy was needed to cut through it without damaging the rotors around it.  
  
"I hate cutting metal and wasting it."  
  
"I'm sure the others share your sentiments sir."  
  
"Hey this is delicate work!" Tony whined to his AI as he activated the lasers on his wrist. "One time use and I'm wasting it on repair work," he grumbled as he fired the laser. "Remind me to redesign this part for the mark 8."  
  
"Already on your list sir."  
  
"Good man."  
  
"Are you done talking?" Rogers' voice came over the telecom louder than was probably intended and Tony winced as the loud shout echoed in his ear and his straight laser line didn't look so straight anymore.  
  
"Sheesh, no need to shout. I can hear you fine Caps," he grumbled, thankful that the distraction only made his line crooked but not damage the rotors around it. "And cutting through metal needs precision. Unless you want me to cut down the undamaged rotors of the engine, then that's fine too, go ahead and shout in my ear again."  
  
"Fine... just hurry up. I don't want to waste time here when we could be helping the others."  
  
Tony rolled his eyes. Well he wanted the same thing. But Jarvis was right, if another engine fails, they fall, they lose, even if the guys inside were winning. "Gee, think this isn't helping? If I don't start this, even if we win inside, we drop and we lose. Besides, you're not the only one who wants to help."  
  
That shut Rogers up.  
  
Tony charged up his boosters now As the last of the debris was cut off. He needed to get the engine a little push. "Get ready to pull that leaver when I say... Cap, Cap you there?" Tony asked as the silence from the other side was replaced by the sound of gunfire.  
  
Ok, so he wasn't the reason Rogers shut up. Bummer.  
  
"Better get rid of them quick Caps, I don't wanna be minced meat up here," Tony muttered as he started pushing the rotors, to give it the jump start that it needed.  
  
"I know that" Rogers hissed into his comm. "Just give me some time."  
  
"Don't have it. These babies won't slow down once they.... uh oh..!"  
  
Tony felt the blades move faster and faster, and no matter how much he powered up his boosters, it got a speed that there was no way he could keep up.  
  
"Shit," he cursed lowly as the force generated by the speed of the rotating blades pulled him under the blades. And really there was nothing he could do because if Rogers didn't pull that lever, this was only going to get faster and faster. And Iron Man suit or not, there was only so much you can do against sharp and gigantic blades pushing you around like a ...  
  
"Food processor. That's how it feels like in here. Pull that lever!"  
  
"Who's shouting now?!" Rogers grumbled as he shot the last henchman on the leg, careful not to kill needlessly. He then  scrambled to the lever that Tony had shown him earlier.  
  
Tony felt something pierce his armor. Well not just once. Quite a few times really and it fucking hurt, Adrenaline wasn't doing jack shit to curb the pain. He cursed as he felt the metal slice through his suit like a giant processor. And his string of curses only faded away when the blades slowed down just a bit, enough for his half powered suit to slip through the in betweens.  
  
"You ok?" Rogers sounded worried. Well he should be!  
   
"FIne as fine can be Caps." Tony took a deep breath. He could feel the gashes on his abdomen and he was sure that he was bleeding.  
  
"You don't look ok."  
  
"Speak for yourself Caps."Then, taking a deep breath, Tony added, "You go on ahead, I'll catch up."  
  
"The fighting seems to have calmed down" Rogers reminded him as he went back inside the helicarrier. It was a subtle way to tell Tony to take his time, that rushing back in won't make a difference so he better check himself out first.  
  
Tony sighed and flew into one of the blasted open corridors and leaned against the wall. "Damage report?"  
  
"Outer armor damage at 60% But some damage.."  
  
"Are greater than others, yeah I can tell thank you," Tony muttered as he opened his suit so he could take a look at his own wounds without Javis bitching to him about it. it was harder to take it off without Jarvis, and Tony made mental note on how to solve this in lfuture models.

Once he had removed the body armor, he looked down, and saw his shirt stained in red. He saw the torn shirt and the gashes underneath. Both expected.

  
But there was something really weird going on. Because before Tony's own eyes, he could see his skin slowly repairing itself, closing and sealing the wound on its own.  
  
"The fuck..." he groaned as he poked at the healing gash. "Fuck hurts... not a dream then," he muttered as his mind tried to grasp the idea that something, or whatever, was healing his wounds faster than any known Earth science right now.  
  
"Sir, your wounds are healing..."  
  
"Again shut it with the obvious Jarvis," Tony muttered. "Can you detect what's causing it?"  
  
"I believe I can't sir. My sensors only detect that your body is healing its own, at an exponentially faster rate than normal."  
  
"Well fuck,"  Tony muttered as he leaned back against the half collapsed wall and sighed. His day was getting weirder and weirder and weirder.

\--------  
  
  
His head filled with more questions than answers, and Tony hated it. Being a man of science, not knowing things was always something he hated. And fuck, this all started with that mysterious visitor who was always coming to him in the dead of night.  
  
He had stayed mum about his injuries, and lackoff, when he rejoined Rogers.  Rogers could see the banged up suit, but he didn't pry. He seemed to trust Tony enough to know that he would take care of his own injuries.  
  
And Tony was not in the mood to talk about his injuries and the subsequent healing that had taken place right before his very eyes. Nope, he was not talking about it with anyone, not at all. Not even with Pepper. Because his life as the Iron man was already crazy as it was, adding magic to the mix would just confuse Pepper and Tony didn't really want to talk to her about it especially when explanations might include his mysterious visitor.  
  
  
So talking to Pepper about it was out of the question. Well, so was talking to the rest of the Avengers.  
  
Especially now that Tony had rejoined the others at the bridge and he had seen most of the devastation that the attack had caused. It made him wonder just how convenient it was that the engine was busted and he and Cap were out of the melee. But at the same time, he also wondered if he would have been able to help much. He was more for outside battles, like Thor was. Indoor battles restricted his movements and made him less effective.  
  
"... were in his pocket."  
  
Tony didn't realize he had zoned out until he saw the cards Fury dumped on the table. Captain America trading cards. He didn't even know those existed until after meeting Coulson. Guy was obviously a fan of the Captain. As if his looks of adoration weren't enough  proof.  
  
Tony watched as Rogers picked up the bloody card closest to him and he could see the determination in those eyes. And really Tony couldn't blame him. The man knew that Coulson was a fan, and for Rogers to not have been able to do anything to help or save him must weigh heavily on his shoulders. Tony understood. But he was unfamiliar with that feeling. No one depended on him. He had felt despair and helplessness, but not this heavy sense of responsibility weighing down on your very being for people you couldn't save. Remorse for his own actions yes. But regret for not doing something you couldn't have done at that time? No, not yet.  
  
Tony Stark looked forward, never back.  
  
"He believed in heroes."  
  
Tony glared at the cards on the table when he heard that line from Fury. "Heroes don't exist."  
  
"Maybe. Doesn't change that Coulson died believing in them. In you."  
  
"We're not heroes," Tony said lowly, carefully.  
  
At least he wasn't, Cap was, Thor was maybe. Romanoff and Barton were nowhere near that. Banner could be but the other guy was certainly more keen to destroy than protect.  
  
"Maybe but..."  
  
"I think that's enough," Rogers said, his voice strangely even and calm. It seemed he was able to box in all that anger from earlier. Or, he was doing a great job at faking it. Or this was how he really was when he got angry.If he was then he really would be the perfect soldier. Harnessing his anger instead of letting it control him.  
  
Tony sat back down and took a deep breath.  
  
"Not the first time you've lost a soldier?" Rogers asked as he calmly looked at the card, the anger limited to just his eyes, while Tony obviously didn't know how to react to all this.  
  
And Tony didn't like that tone either. Lost a soldier? Were they in the military now?  
  
"In case you forgot Cap, I'm not a soldier, and neither is Banner," Tony spat, with far more venom than he wanted. He was riled up, he knew it, but he couldn't do anything about it. "We're all civilians swept off our feet by this ... war," he muttered, unsure of what to call it really. Invasion? War? Was it even a war if they stood no chance? "So no, I'm sorry if people dying is something that affects me differently from you."  
  
Rogers finally looked up from the card and placed it back down on the table. He looked up at Tony, baby blue eyes steeled with determination and anger holding doe brown ones that were just as angry but every bit as confused. "Let's make sure he didn't give his life for nothing."  
  
"What CAN we do?" Tony growled. "The prisoner's escaped, we don't know where Banner and Point Break are, Romanoff's shaken, Barton compromised, and Coulson's dead!"  
  
Steve was an image of calm in the presence of Tony's panicked and angered self. Even though Steve was the one who should be more affected by Coulson's demise, it was obvious that he had gone through this a whole lot more than Tony did. Enough to let him school his emotions enough to think straight.  
  
"Right now our team is in tatters, we're scattered, and that's exactly what Loki wants."  
  
"Well at least someone got what they wanted," Tony said with a disbelieving laugh.  
  
"Tony..." Rogers sighed as he ignored the presence of Fury in the room and just focused on Tony. "We can't let him get away."  
  
"I know that," Tony snapped. He was on the edge right now, and even with Rogers using his calm to hopefully affect Tony. The billionaire looked beyond Rogers and turned his attention to Fury. "Is this in any way part of your contingent plan?"  
  
"All the agents of SHIELD know what they're gtting into on the day they signed up for..."  
  
"I already know we're all disposable for you. And no that's not what I meant," Tony said as Fury's frown deepened but the director kept silent and let Tony continue. "WHat I meant was this. You planned on taking Loki up here in the Helicarrier. Did you have a contingency plan for when he breaks out?"  
  
THe silence that greets Tony just confirms his suspicion.  
  
"I take that as a no," he muttered as he ran his hand through his hair. Using his anger and frustration, Tony forced his brain to work as it should. "So what would a god hell bent on detroying the earth want? What does he still need?"  
  
"He has the tesseract?" Rogers offered.  
  
"Exactly!"  
  
Fury straightened a bit, obviously more attentive to the topic now that Tony seemed to be using his head again.

Tony began pacing, his hands moving as his brain worked out all the kinks of the situation.

  
"And he has an army. He has the tesseract, and we already know he's building up that thing. Making it stable and usable. Why else did he go to Stuttgart and get that meteorite?"  
  
"So what else does he need?"  
  
"Right again caps. If Dr. Selvig's notes are right, then all he needs now is a power source."  
  
This time Fury joined in to the conversation. "What type of power source would he need? There's no way he could harness anything natural, he doesn't have the infrastructure."  
  
"Maybe nuclear?" Rogers suggested.  
  
Tony shook his head. "Both good points. You get the idea. But no, Loki won't go for that.... natural is too volatile, hard to tame. Nuclear is too explosive, too much risk." Tony paused to think, his mind running through the list of possible alternates for the tesseract. "We're missing something here. It's opening night. He's a prince, a diva, he'd want something loud, something big, something  like his name plastered all over the top of a buil...."  
  
Tony trailed off as his eyes widened in realization.  
  
Him.  
  
It was HIM.  
  
That's why he never showed himself. That's why he always talked in his head and never used his real voice. That's why the fucking bastard was at his place.That's why... everything was making sense now. Why he went there, why he went to Tony.

The arc reactor.

That was all there was to this. Loki was after the arc reactor and Tony never pieced it together until now. Fuck his own libido.

  
"That son of a bitch," he muttered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, the 20 minute engine repair time estimate was borrowed from Honest Trailers. If you haven't seen it, you're missing a lot because they are so damned good at it :) I promise a really good laugh
> 
>  
> 
> Again this turned out longer than expected but I already cut this from the previous chapter so please bear with a longer chapter today 
> 
> Again, comments are very much appreciated :)


	8. Stark Tower - Loki

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally, we've reached the Tower scene!

  
Loki paced the balcony and it was a strange sight indeed. For one, Loki never paced as if having difficulty reaching a decision. He was always very decisive, and if he was unsure he would never show it.  
  
THat he was in full armor, the scepter of power in his hand, and yet still pacing on the balcony of a mortal's home was a scenario he would never have thought to be in. in fact, he would probably have turned anyone into a newt or a toad for even suggesting the idea that he, the great Loki, would be pacing about due to indecisiveness.

Indecisiveness regarding one particular mortal.  
  
He finally stopped pacing when he started to see a faint golden shimmer on the walls around him.  
  
He had seen it already before, the faint golden shimmer of light that courses through most of Stark's creations- like gold dust dancing around metal and concrete. There was something about the Midgardian's creations that he probably didn't realize, and something Loki didn't understand either. Again, another idea he would probably punish another for if it was brought up in the past. Loki knew everything there was to know about the underlying magic in all of the 9 Realms.  
  
He remembered when he had first arrived here as that Agent entered the building and spoke to Stark and that woman a few days ago. He remembered seeing this same golden shimmer coursing through the building and concentrate in one area whenever the disembodied voice spoke to Stark. He had thought that it was Heimdall's presence, but he could tell that it wasn't Asgardian. At first he thought that maybe someone had beat him to the punch. Maybe someone had the Man of Iron in his control already, or perhaps someone else was monitoring him already. Perhaps. He didn't know enough to know for sure.  
  
But perhaps not. Because the golden shimmer didn't appear on Stark. Rather, it appeared in things he had made. In the Helicarrier, it was there too, concentrated on the Midgardian's hand and on his suit of armor. So it couldn't be control.  
  
And there was also the fact that the Iron Man suit didn't have the same shimmer when it was powered down. Nor did Tony's cars. But those moving arms in his lab, and this invisible presence that seemed to be everywhere in Stark's building had them. And this presence, this... Jarvis, seemed to be shimmering the most out of all.  
  
  
"Mr Stark should be back soon."  
  
  
Loki raised an eyebrow and turned to look at the concentrated collection of golden dust that had pooled on the walls and floors of the balcony.  
  
"You don't seem surprised. Most people are when they hear my voice."  
  
Of course he wasn't surprised, he was used to this after hearing the disembodied voice a few times. Loki chuckled and shook his head. "I was wondering why you don't just blow me up? Or raise the alarm?"  
  
"Mr Stark wouldn't like his building damaged."  
  
Loki smirked as he listened to Jarvis's reasoning. "Stark called you Jarvis on more than one occasion. I assume that is your name. Now Jarvis, I highly doubt a scolding from your master would deter you from protecting his life?"  
  
The being or thing, Loki really didn't know how to classify Jarvis, was silent for a moment. Then, it spoke again. "You will not harm Mr Stark."  
  
Again Loki raised an eyebrow at this. "You sound so sure."  
  
"I am."  
  
"And why would you be?"  
  
"You had three chances."  
  
Three. So it had sensed him when he first came here, the morning after, and on the Helicarrier. And yet it didn't alert the mortal. Interesting.  
  
"I thought you were supposed to protect him."  
  
"I sense no ill intent on his life."  
  
 Really interesting. How this Jarvis was so sure Loki would probably never know. And perhaps now was not the right time for this either.  
  
Loki shook his head. "I believe we have to postpone this delicate discussion for later," he said. He could hear the sound of the boosters coming in from the distance. His plaything was coming. And it was better for Jarvis if he pretended they didn't get along as well as they did. He didn't want Stark to label his own creation as a traitor or something. Because if Stark was on his way, that only meant that he and his merry band of friends have already figured out his plans, at least the part that he wanted them to know.  
  
"Clever boy," Loki purred approvingly despite himself as he watched Stark come closer and land on the balcony.  
  
"You. Me. Inside now."  
  
"Oh I like that tone," Loki said playfully as he watched the suit removed piece by piece. Again that magical golden shimmer told him that Jarvis was at work, involved. The helmet was one of the first to go and Loki felt those brown eyes glare at him even from the distance.  
  
Stark was angry. He thought he was deceived. Well he was for the most part, so Loki really couldn't blame him for feeling so angry at him.  
  
As much as Loki wanted to keep staring, to keep watching Jarvis "undress" Stark in a way, revealing only his bare, Midgardian form, he knew he had to stop less his mind be filled with endless thoughts of their playtime.  
  
He stepped into the living room, familiar to him now since he has been here twice before.  
  
He looked up at Stark and felt his heart stop when he saw the dark red patch on the man's dark gray t shirt. It looked like blood. No who was he kidding? That was blood. And after he had so carefully told that stupid Hawk to aim for the engine just enough to keep Stark busy.  
  
Ok so he had put a small spell on Stark to keep him safe somehow just in case. But it was a basic rune that he drew on the man's back during their fun time on the Helicarrier , and he didn't use his blood to seal it so there was no way to strengthen it. It was weak magic, very weak magic. And if the damage was any bigger...  
  
Stark's eyes followed Loki's, and he saw how those deep green eyes focused on the bloody part of his shirt.  
  
"I made sure you were no where near the beast and the hawk and yet you still injure yourself?"  
  
Stark's eyes narrowed. "Knew it. It was too convenient that with such a good aim Katniss would miss his target."  
  
"So you knew, and yet you still go on ahead and injure yourself."  
  
Tony's eyes sparked again, the anger unmistakeable as he glared at Loki. "What the fuck is your game?!" he growled angrily as his shaking hand reached down to grab his bottle of scotch. "You look upset that i have a bloodied shirt but you killed Coulson in cold blood. And I'm sure my body healing has something to do with you too. The fuck with your double standards!"  
  
Loki remained silent for a moment and then raised an eyebrow. "Of course. I don't like my things bloody," he said simply, like it explained everything. Well it did, for Loki. Then his eyebrow went up higher, and if it wasn't for the situation, the look made Loki look adorably cute. Who was this Coulson Stark was talking about? It wasn't any of the men he had under his control, and the Hawk was named Barton.  
  
 Besides, his orders to his men were clear. They were just to provide a distraction, to make sure that the green beast was distracted enough to not to piece together his plans. As smart as Stark was, the gamma radiation expert was the closest to figuring out the end game of the Tesseract so Loki had to keep him busy.  "No one died," he said, matter-of-factly.  
  
"Phil Coulson is dead," Stark growled through gritted teeth. But Loki could see the silent confusion in his eyes. His eyes were so wonderfully honest despite what comes out of his lips. It was endearing really. Even during playtime, Loki could see the silent need and unspoken desire in those beautiful brown eyes even if his lips said otherwise.  
  
Loki's eyes narrowed. "I do not know of whom you speak. "Did you see his body?"  
  
Tony's frown deepened at that answer. "No, but that's not the poi..."  
  
Loki rolled his eyes. "Tsk, you are so easily deceived," he said. Well it was true. Didn't he do the same on a regular basis? But he would never lower himself to Fury's level. His methods were rather.. crass and Loki didn't like crass. Loki would much rather let his deceived form theories based on what he implied rather than lying to them outright. Besides, he's never lied to Stark yet.  
  
"That's nice, coming from you," Stark spat.  
  
But then again, the honest confusion in his eyes was not lost on Loki.  
  
"Tony, Tony, Tony," Loki sighed as he took a step forward. "When have I deceived you?" He saw how Stark's hand shook as it filled the glass with Scotch. But he could also see that Stark was standing his ground despite Loki moving forward. Brave  Midgardian.  
  
No answer. No witty come back.  
  
Stark was thinking. Loki could almost see the wheels in his head turning. He was realizing that Loki had never lied to him. He never told him the truth, nothing really, but he had never lied.  
  
"As much as I like where your train of thought is leading you, I'd rather listen to the sound of your voice."  
  
That seemed to snap Stark out of his thoughts. "Get out of my head," he muttered, but it had less hostility than before. It seemed their little back and forth had made him calm down somewhat.  
  
"I'm not in your head, never was. I think I can just read you really well Tony."  
  
"Now you're lying."  
  
Loki raised an eyebrow and chuckled again.  "If this is about the blindfolds, that was a lucky guess. All the other times? More lucky guesses. You are far too easy to read Stark. Tink about it. If I was in your head you wouldn't have any secrets from me anymore would you? And if that is true, then what use have I of you? Shouldn't I have disposed of you already when I had the chance?"  
  
Again silence greeted him as the mortal continued to think. "Maybe I'm just good in bed."  
  
  
This time Loki laughed at what others would view as a badly timed joke. And the mortal's eyes were once again on him.  
  
"You barely did anything as far as I remember. I think I did all the work," the god said with good humor and for the first time that day, he saw a shadow of a smile flicker across the mortal's lips.  
  
When the laughter died down and Loki was once again faced with such unsure eyes, he moved even closer to Stark until he was but a few feet away from him. The Midgardian stayed where he was, untouched glass of scotch in his hands. Really brave Midgardian this one.  
  
"This is all so fucking confusing," Tony muttered as he looked down and broke eye contact with  Loki. "If Fury was lying and used Coulson's death just to..."  
  
"He only did what a general would do. I wouldn't say what he did was wrong, nor was it right. but it was necessary," Loki said as he finally reached out and used his index finger to tip Tony's chin up. The touch was familiar to the mortal by now, but Stark still flinched a little when he felt the actual touch and saw the hand that touched him.  
  
"It's not... right," he muttered.  
  
"I brought war upon your world. A good general would use any means necessary to rally his forces into battle."  
  
Stark finally raised his eyes to look at Loki and the mortal let out a soft breath. "Why did you come?"  
  
"To you or to this world?"  
  
"World," Tony muttered, still standing where he was, not moving away from Loki. "I know you only came to me for the arc reactor so you don't have to answer that. And I'm still really angry at you for that too."  
  
Loki sighed as he pulled his hand away from Stark's chin, leaving a gentle caress on his goatee. He could hear the pain that laced those words. That Stark felt used was no surprise. That was Loki's plan all along, wasn't it? To use the mortal, to get the information he needed on the arc reactor so he could use it to power the Tesseract. And so.. why was he here with Stark? When did this fit into the plan?  
  
"I... I did," Loki admitted, but continued before Stark's demeanor could change. "But my second and third visits had nothing to do with the reactor.And I did my own research. I never twisted your arm for any information. "  
  
Loki, the liesmith, speaking the truth. If the Midgardian accepted that as truth or not was his choice. It was what made Loki such a great liar, because he could speak the truth and spin his lies and make them both sound the same, and no one would be wiser.  
  
"Then why?"  
  
Why indeed? Perhaps maybe this Midgardian...  
  
Loki sighed and took a step back to gaze at Stark's troubled face. "Because you fascinate me."  
  
Fascinate. It seemed that it wasn't one of the many words Stark was probably expecting, if his widening eyes were anything to go by.  
  
"Bedding me to learn about the reactor. Not a great plan."  
  
"That wasn't part of the plan," Loki quickly corrected him. "As for why I came...."Loki's words were cut short as his eyes widened. He suddenly felt a surge of power - his. Well his and not his entirely.  He jerked his head to look at the scepter in his hands. The scepter was suddenly glowing a bright blue color and Loki quickly took a step back, then another, quickly moving away from Stark.  
  
The mortal was looking at him again. His eyes looked confused now more than ever.  
  
"Loki..."  
  
"Stay back!" Loki growled suddenly as he glared at Tony and the mortal stayed put. Loki could feel it, the cold blue power that emanated from the Mind Stone on his scepter. If he was a lesser being it would already have taken over him when he first laid eyes on it. But just because it couldn't control his mind, didn't mean it couldn't control a part of him.  
  
It affected his magic. It strengthened and amplified it, but it seemed to make his magic take on a different form, like it had taken over. Loki hated being told what to do, but he had to remind himself that this was all really necessary.  
  
But worse yet, he could feel the presence of the Mad Titan's servant. He was getting closer.  
  
He didn't want Stark to be anywhere near him when the Mind Stone was taking over. Why he cared, he probably would have to think about after the battle. Right now there were more pressing problems.  
  
"Get out!" he hissed.  
  
Always the stubborn mortal, Stark had broken out of his stuppor and was walking towards Loki instead. "I told you to get out!" Loki hissed again.  
  
"Why?" Stark asked, his troubled eyes still looking troubled, but there was a steely determination in them too. He obviously didn't know what was happening but he was very determined to do something, anything. that much Loki could tell from the look in his eyes. Why did he have to be so stubborn at the wrong times? "There's obviously something wrong with you right now. I can't leave without doing anything!"  
  
"Stupid Midgardian!" Loki growled as he felt the power sizzle through his flesh, making his whole body tingle with energy and power. "I can kill you, get out!" Loki growled through gritted teeth.  
  
When Tony still didn't move. Loki grasped at what was left of his powers that he could still control and aimed all of it at Stark.  
  
"Loki, what...?!" The green slivers of power that erupted from Loki's fingers wrapped around Stark and pulled him through the glass windows, effectively bringing him away from Loki. It smashed the windows, but it protected Stark.  
  
"Jarvis, take care of him," Loki said softly as he struggled to keep what little control he had left.  
  
"I will sir," the mechanical voice responded and at once, one of Stark's suits followed its creator down out the window.  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a really great time writing this part and the next. You may deduce from the title that there will be a Tony version of this so be warned that the next chapter is gonna be the same scene, but written in Tony's perspective. I don't usually do that but there are some points that I thought would be missed if I didn't show both their sides. 
> 
> Also,I'm sure you've noticed but we're deviating from canon now. But I still hope you like the direction I'm taking this fanfic in 
> 
>  
> 
> Comments are appreciated! :)


	9. Stark Tower - Tony

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What was going on in Tony's head as he finally met Loki in his tower.  
> Also, a lot of cursing =_= Tony's upset

  
  
Tony was mad. No, he was seething. He could practically feel the heat rise from his skin, his racing pulse and his rising blood pressure. Yup he was angry.  
  
He felt used. He felt like a stupid horny teenager who was stupid enough not to use his head and just let his hormones do all the thinking for him. Thing is he was an almost 40 year old something with hormones of a teenager. So he should have known better.  
  
And Coulson. Fuck. Tony didn't want to deal with anyone dying. So he wasn't close to the guy, but he saw him often enough to feel that pain of loss.  
  
"Fucking Asgardian asshole," he growled where only Jarvis could hear him because he was in his suit and flying through the air at top speed. He had already left the Quinjet in the dust a few minutes ago, and with it Romanoff's complaints that he was going too fast and would be out of range for the Quinjet's transmissions.  
  
Like he cared.    
  
"Fuck Loki. Fuck this war. Fuck my dick."  
  
"Sir, I believe Ms Potts would agree with that last comment."  
  
Tony growled at Jarvis' jab. "Oh I bet she will. And I bet she'd say I told you so."  
  
He was so angry he was literally seeing red. Loki had the gall to trick him, to use him! He was Tony fucking Stark, no one used him! Not anymore. After that issue with Obadiah all those years back, Tony had been trying to mend his pride and his reputation. The great Tony Stark was his own man who answered to no man.  
  
Well Loki was a god so....  
  
"Still doesn't change anything," he growled again. Jarvis was silent on the other end and Tony wondered if the AI was busy with something else to bother with him. Not that it mattered, because he had designed Jarvis to be able to work at 100% on at least two to three fronts. The more he multitasked, the less effective, but his lowest efficiency margin was just 90%, so Jarvis not saying anything meant that the AI might just didn't want to say anything.  
  
Over the horizon he could see the Stark Tower and he decided to break the silence again. He was never one for long silences anyway. "Jarv, remind me to bring Captain Spangles up here so he could see that the tower isn't such an ugly piece of shit."  
  
"Do you want the note to be kept verbatim sir?"

  
"Use your imagination."  
  
"Noted sir."  
  
There was silence between the two of them for a while as Tony sped through the air and towards his tower. Tony Stark silenced twice in a row, in the same hour, Pepper would have rejoiced.

  
Then, "Jarv?"  
  
"Yes sir?"  
  
"Am I stupid?"  
  
  
The AI obviously hesitated before responding with, "Do you require an honest answer or one that would save my system from being decommissioned indefinitely?"  
  
Tony rolled his eyes. Even if he was pissed, his AI knew how to give him a lighthearted jab every now and then. "Is the Mark 7 ready yet?" he asked, changing the subject, as he got closer to the tower.  
  
"Sir it's still in the final stages of..."  
  
"No can do, skip the spinning wheels, we're on the clock," Tony muttered as he spotted the armored god on his balcony. He had on that same stupid helmet with long freaking horns that looked stupid and heavy as shit. "Fuck, he's already here. When were you gonna tell me Jarv?" he grumbled as he landed on his suit's landing platform. He didn't want to remove his suit, it made him feel so vulnerable when faced with Loki who was decked in full armor.  
  
But he had no choice. He wouldn't stand a chance in this one. He needed to get his other suit, the one Jarvis was still finishing.  
  
Tony glared at the god who stood before him, like nothing happened!  
  
He could feel his anger, his feeling of betrayal bubbling up even faster now that he could see the god, and he forced himself to speak as calmly as he could.

  
"You me inside. Now," he growled. Ok not as calm. But at least he didn't just go wild.  
  
He also didn't miss the smile Loki had on his features as they both stepped inside. He didn't miss the playfulness to the words the god used to say how much he preferred this tone. But he chose to ignore it. He was mad at him for crying out loud. But damn the god had a nice smile and those hands, how would the real ones fe...  
  
Tony internally slapped himself at his train of thought. "Focus," he growled to himself.  
  
He stepped into the living room, eyes trained on the god as the other moved with him inside. Because he was watching him so intently, the change in Loki's expression didn't escape Tony.  
  
He saw how those deep green eyes zeroed in on his bloody shirt and he saw quickly how the god's demeanor changed. Tony's eyes narrowed. He had his suspicions but no confirmation. When Loki spoke and it just confirmed what he already thought.  
  
"Knew it." Katniss would never miss a target. If he did, it would have been intentional, a part of a bigger plan. The question was, what was the plan? Why did Loki disable the Helicarrier just enough to distract them all but not to kill them? It was making no sense.  
  
  
"So you knew, and yet you still go on ahead and injure yourself."  
  
  
Tony's eyes snapped up to glare at the god standing before him. He could feel his anger bubbling inside him again. Agent. Why did Agent have to die? Why did Loki not just murder them all up in the air? "What the fuck is your game?!" he growled angrily as his shaking hand reached down to grab his bottle of scotch. "You look upset that I have a bloodied shirt but you killed Coulson in cold blood. And I'm sure my body healing has something to do with you too. The fuck with your double standards!"  
  
 Tony was surprised that he could get this mad. Really he wasn't tight with Coulson, because he seemed to be always on Tony's case. But people dying was just something he wasn't comfortable with. He may not have been close friends with Coulson, but he was someone he knew and someone he worked with on rare occasions. Tony didn't like losing people even if they weren't very important to him relationship wise.  
  
Loki remained silent for a moment but to Tony it felt like a lifetime. He almost wanted to punch Loki in the face just to elicit a response. Then the god raised an elegant eyebrow. "Of course. I don't like my things bloody," he said as if it was the most normal thing in the world.  
  
Then his eyebrow went up higher, and if it wasn't for the situation, the look made Loki look adorably cute. Tony didn't know what to make of the confusion that was flitting across Loki's face.Then as quickly as it had showed up, the look of confusion was wiped off the god's face.   "No one died," Loki said, matter-of-factly.  
  
What.  
  
What the hell was Loki talking about.  
  
  
"Phil Coulson is dead," Stark growled through gritted teeth. But Tony could feel his own confusion rise. Maybe Loki was lying, maybe. But why would he lie about that? What proof would he have? Tony was not easy to convince and Loki would have to work extra hard if he wanted to convince Tony about Coulson not dying he would have to do a really good job.  
  
Loki's eyes narrowed. "I do not know of whom you speak. Did you see his body?"  
  
Tony's frown deepened at that answer. Ok so fuck... Fury didn't give him any concrete evidence either. And they were all so wrapped up about it that no one even bothered to check... So much for being hard to convince. "No, but that's not the poi..."  
    
Loki rolled his eyes, in a manner that irritated Tony because he felt like a child being chastised.  
  
 "Tsk, you are so easily deceived," the god said.  
  
Ok so Tony couldn't really argue with that one. But the nerve of him! He was the one doing all the lying and manipulating here!.  
  
"That's nice, coming from you," Tony spat.  
  
  
"Tony Tony Tony," Loki sighed as he took a step forward. Tony should be afraid, should take a step back. Because even he knew how dangerous Loki was, saw what he could do. But really, his pride was just too strong for him to even take a back step from danger when he saw it.  
  
 "When have I deceived you?"  
  
Tony froze for a moment as Loki challenged him with that simple question.  
  
When?  
  
Well there was the first time in the tower...  
  
Then the morning after in the shower...  
  
What about on the Helicarrier...  
  
 Tony frowned as he came up with blanks. Loki didn't tell him much. But because of that, Loki never lied to him about anything, yet. Ok so Loki wasn't very chatty during their encounters, but he hadn't lied.  
  
As he realized this, Tony's hands around the glass of scotch shook, the weight of this information weighing down on him, enough for him to not even come up with a good response.  
  
"As much as I like where your train of thought is leading you, I'd rather listen to the sound of your voice."  
  
That snapped Tony out of his thoughts and his gaze once more focused on the god before him. "Get out of my head," he muttered, but it had less hostility than before. It seemed their little back and forth had confused him enough to replace the anger from earlier.  
  
"I'm not in your head, never was. I think I can just read you really well Tony."  
  
"Now you're lying."  
This one was definitely a lie. Like hell he wasn't in Tony's head.  
  
Loki raised an eyebrow and chuckled again. It was a beautiful sound. And if only Tony wasn't so confused, he would probably enjoy it.  
  
 "If this is about the blindfolds, that was a lucky guess. All the other times, lucky guesses too. You are far too easy to read Stark. Tink about it. If I was in your head you wouldn't have any secrets from me anymore would you? And if that is true, then what use have I of you? Shouldn't I have disposed of you already when I had the chance?"  
  
Fuck because he was making sense.

  
All this time, he could have asked for information. But Tony didn't remember any instance that Loki did ask him about anything. Not even about the arc reactor. The god seemed to have used his computers but he never pressured Tony about it.  
  
 "Maybe I'm just good in bed."  
  
  
This time Loki laughed at what others would view as a badly timed joke. And Tony really couldn't help but look at him. Ok, confused or not, that laugh sounded beautiful to mortal ears. It wasn't his maniacal laugh, no this was different, and it really sounded good.  
  
"You barely did anything as far as I remember. I think I did all the work," the god said with good humor and Tony's lips curled slightly upwards in what seemed to be the beginning of a smile.  
  
Really. If this wasn't a life or death situation, Tony would have loved to banter a bit longer. It has been forever since anyone has been able to make Tony feel this amused, even in the face of danger. And it has also been far too long since his counterpart didn't take offense to his poorly timed and oftentimes inappropriate jokes.  
  
  
When the laughter died down, Tony couldn't help but look at the god, meeting his eyes. Boy, those really were the deepest green eyes could go, and they reminded him of sparkling emeralds.  And he was still staring even as the other moved closer, until he was only a few feet away from him, so close that Loki could touch him if he wanted to.  
  
  
"This is all so fucking confusing," Tony muttered as he finally looked down and broke eye contact with  Loki. "If Fury was lying and used Coulson's death to..."  
  
  
"He only did what a general would do. I wouldn't say what he did was wrong, nor was it right. but it was necessary," Loki said as he finally reached out and used his index finger to tip Tony's chin up.  
  
This touch was familiar to Tony by now, but he still flinched because it felt so different when he could actually see who was doing it to him.  
  
"It's not... right," he muttered.  
  
Because, why the hell would Fury do that? Lying and keeping secrets was one thing but to lie about someone's death to rally his troops? Dirty lying scheming bastard.... and why the hell was Loki somehow defending what Eyepatch had done?  
  
"I brought war upon your world. A good general would use any means necessary to rally his forces into battle."  
  
Seriously, Loki defending Fury was just all levels of wrong.  
  
So to steer clear of that, Tony decided to ask something else. He finally raised his eyes again to look at Loki. "Why did you come?"  
  
"To you or to this world?"  
  
To me. Of course to me. What made me different from Spangles, or Bruce, or even Romanoff? Hell why not Fury? Why did you come to me?  
  
"World," Tony muttered instead, still standing where he was, not moving away from Loki. "I know you only came to me for the arc reactor so you don't have to answer that. And I'm still really angry at you for that too."  
  
Ah yes, the arc reactor. That was all he needed from Tony. But he already got that information on the first night, so why did the god keep coming back?  
  
Loki sighed as he pulled his hand away from Tony, leaving a gentle caress on his goatee that made the mortal shiver despite himself.  
  
"I... I did," Loki admitted,and Tony felt a pain that was his pride getting stabbed. But he had expected this right? Nothing but a toy for the god.  
  
"But my second and third visits had nothing to do with the reactor.And I did my own research. I never twisted your arm for any information. "  
  
Again. True.  
  
Fuck. So was he really just toying with Tony? Or was there more to this? Tony could feel a headache coming, he had never been so confused like this before.  
  
  
"Then why?" he just had to ask.  
  
Just say I'm a toy, or you were bored, because that would be easier to accept.  
  
Loki sighed and took a step back to gaze at Stark's troubled face. "Because you fascinate me."  
  
Fascinate.  
  
Now that he didn't expect. What could a mortal offer a god that would fascinate him anyway? Ok fine so genius billionaire handsome as fuck ... but still, mortal.  
  
In his confused state, and his head was beginning to reallllly hurt with all this conflicting information,  Tony turned to humor again to distract himself, as he did so often.His big mouth and sharp tongue was a defining asset after all "Bedding me to learn about the reactor. Not a great plan."  
  
"That wasn't part of the plan," Loki quickly corrected him. "As for why I came...."Loki's words were cut short but Tony was expecting him to finish the sentence, expecting the cut to be a pause before a big dramatic reveal.  
  
_I came because I knew I could use you._  
  
_Because you were stupid enough to be lured._  
  
_Stupid mortal, you were just entertainment while I waited to claim my throne._  
  
_Did you really believe my words? You are more stupid than any other Midgardian Stark._  
  
Or maybe, just maybe, Loki enjoyed it just as much as Tony did.  
  
But Tony would never know. Because he heard the squeaking of leather boots on to the marble floor and Tony looked up, only to see that Loki was moving away from him. Ok,no dramatic reveal. And him moving away, this,  this was concerning, right?  
  
Not only that. Tony's eyes widened in alarm as he saw the scepter glowing blue.This did not look good. Even if he didn't understand it completely, the scepter glowing this bright could only mean a surge of power. It worked that way with a generator or his own reactor.  
  
"Loki..."  
  
"Stay back!" Loki growled suddenly in a voice and tone that Tony had never heard before. The god staggered backwards, his eyes focused on the floor. Then he looked up and glared at Tony. At that moment, Tony felt his breath catch in his throat. His eyes. They were no longer that brilliant green that seemed to pull Tony in. They were now glazed with a blue so cold that Tony felt a chill run down his spine.  
  
This was like Barton. Totally like Barton. But how...why?  
  
"Get out!" the god hissed as Tony didn't move.    
  
Always the stubborn mortal, he could imagine Loki say. well it was a very defining trait if Tony had to say so himself. Instead of getting out as he was told, he stayed, and began to walk towards Loki instead. He was never good at following orders really.  
  
"I told you to get out!" Loki hissed as he took another step back and away from Tony.  
  
"Why?" Tony asked as he continued to move forward. There was something wrong here. Was Loki being controlled the same way Barton was?  
  
"Why must you be so stubborn?!" Loki growled as his grip on the scepter tightened.  
  
Tony clenched his jaw and kept walking closer. "There's obviously something wrong with you right now. I can't leave without doing anything!" As if there was something he could do. And there was also the issue that this was the man who had threatened their world, why should he care really?  
  
But Tony could never really turn a blind eye when something was so terribly wrong before his eyes. And when did Tony ever give up even when there was nothing he could do? Stubborn mortal indeed.  
  
"Stupid Midgardian!" Loki growled as the blue glow began spreading down from the scepter and through his body. Even Tony could see it. It was so powerful that even though threads of magic would usually remain unseen to a mortal, this was very visible to the naked eye.  "I can kill you, get out!" Loki growled through gritted teeth.  
  
Tony still didn't move. "In case you still haven't figured it out, I don't always do what I'm told, so no I'm not leaving!" Tony growled. "Tell me what's going on...." Tony fell silent, the sentence ending midway as he saw Loki extend his hand towards him.  
  
Well shit. Was he gonna attack now? Shit, he didn't have his suit.  
  
Then, in the blink of an eye, before Tony could even dwell on his thoughts and what he was going to do if he died here, green tendrils of power erupted from Loki's fingers and went straight for him.  
  
"Loki, what...?!" Before he could even move a muscle, the green tendrils wrapped around him. He didn't even have time to dwell on how weird this was, as it dragged him out of his own living room and threw him out the window. If only he wasn't panicking and screaming because hell his tower was HIGH, he might have noticed that with all the glass shards he just broke through, he didn't even have one nick on his skin.  
  
The only thought that lingered in his mind, despite his panic,  was that this green thing surrounding him felt really different from the cold blue that he felt emanating from Loki earlier.  
  
He had to tell Thor.  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly, writing the conversations of Jarvis and Tony is almost as fun as writing Loki and Tony's haha. I am enjoying this way too damn much. 
> 
> And to answer any questions about Jarvis and Loki, Jarvis didn't alert Tony about Loki using their own computers to learn about the reactor either :) He trusts Loki for some reason ^^


	10. Invasion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The battle is finally underway, will Tony be able to find Thor and talk to him in all this chaos?

  
A few more seconds and he would have been roadkill.  
  
Ok fine, so he didn't ask for Jarvis to deploy the suit when he was still within earshot. But still! His protocols should have sensed the imminent danger and deployed earlier.  
  
"We seriously have to work on your timing. If that fall didn't kill me, a heart attack would have," Tony growled at Jarvis as his suit finally covered him completely and he was able to fire up his thrusters and fly up into the air. Tony took a moment to take deep breaths to calm himself before he started analyzing the data presented by Jarvis on his HUD.  
  
"Sir, I remember telling you that the Mark 7 wasn't ready yet and none of your other suits can be suited up mid flight."  
  
"I also remember telling you to skip some steps."  
  
"And risk you dying because of a malfunction? Then take the blame for it? I think not sir."  
  
"You are seriously becoming a smartass."  
  
"From you sir, I'll take that as a compliment."  
  
Tony rolled his eyes. Really, his AI was becoming too much like him sometimes and it kinda scared him. Ok fine, so Jarvis wasn't like this from the start, but hey, whoopee, he created his AI with a very good learning curve.  
  
No one has ever made one like that before, and perhaps no one will. Dummy, You and Butterfingers had a weak learning curve but they had one as well somehow. Helping hands that understood human speech, now that was amazing. But not as amazing as Jarvis. Tony was satisfied with just one Jarvis. He probably wouldn't make another one like him again.  Admittedly it was frightening what could happen should he fall into the wrong hands.  
  
But Tony didn't really have time to relish his moment of genius. Not right now at least because he had more pressing problems to take care of.  
  
Like  what the fuck was wrong with Loki.  
  
Oh and there was now a big hole in the sky.  
  
And Loki's alien army was also starting to pour down from said hole in the sky.  
  
He had to find Thor and talk to him. He needed to talk to him about his brother. If there was any way to snap Loki out of whatever control it was he was under, only another from his realm would stand the biggest chance of doing so. But talking seemed easier said than done, because the Chitauri were already all over the place.  Then again he was Tony Stark and Tony Stark made the impossible happen right?

His biggest problem with talking with Thor though was that Blondielocks wasn't even  here yet.  
  
"Where the hell did you run off to," Tony muttered as he scanned the surrounding area for any sign of the Asgardian.  No luck. He wasn't here yet. "He's surely taking his sweet time hauling his ass over here."  
  
The fighting seemed to have started before Tony arrived on the scene, he could tell that much from the damages the buildings and infrastructure already had all around him. And he could see Rogers, Romanoff and Barton were all on the ground now, fighting the Chitauri that landed on the ground and terrorizing civilians.  
  
"Spangles," Tony called.  
  
"Stark! We could really use an eye in the sky right now," Rogers said, slightly out of breath as he struck at another Chitauri.  
  
"Doing that. Looks like the big ones are on schoolbus duty for the foot soldiers," Tony muttered as he looked at the Leviathan moving across the sky, its sides opening to reveal and release the Chitauri on ... are those space jet skis?  
  
"Take it out then."  
  
"Already doing that. Last I checked, not one of you can fly, so I don't have a choice do I?"  
  
Tony just knew Rogers was rolling his eyes and he couldn't help but smirk. "Capsicle, when Blondie gets here, patch him over to me. He and I have some talking to do. I need to confirm something."  
  
"About the Tesseract? Did you learn something new about how to stop it?"  
  
"Kinda," Tony lied as he swerved through buildings. Well half lie. If Loki was being controlled, then snapping him out of it would cut off the control and end the invasion, right?  
  
Tony put more power into his boosters and aimed higher, going closer to the Leviathan that was speeding down towards the city.  It looked like a giant bug, and Tony hated bugs. So he he aimed his lasers and fired. Nothing happened, so he tried looking for a weak spot and then fired again, and again, and again.  
  
"Sir, your weapons will overheat before you can penetrate that shell."  
  
"Yeah no shit," Tony cursed as he stopped to let his repulsors recharge. "But we got its attention," he said as the Leviathan stopped heading towards Outer Manhattan and headed towards Tony instead. "Is Thunderboy here yet?" Tony asked as he turned back towards the spot where the Avengers were, the Leviathan on his tail.  
  
"I believe he is on his way sir, he's still quite a distance away, but with his speed I estimate he should arrive here in less than half a minute."  
  
Tony felt a wave of relief wash over him. "Good."  
  
"Rogers."  
  
"Stark, we're busy right now."  
  
"So am I. Listen, Blondie's coming your way, so I'm bringing the party to you. Tell him to charge up that hammer of his. He loves to smash things right?"  
  
Tony maneuvered through the buildings, bringing the Leviathan through a path that would cause the least damage as possible.  
  
"I don't see how that's a party."  
  
"Save it Red," Tony muttered to Romanoff as they came into view. He could see all the dead Chitauri around them and a seemingly very angry Thunder God with them. Thor was here. Good. He could ask him what he needed to know, just as soon as he got this Leviathan out of the way.  
  
Thor charged up Mjolnir, swirling it around to gain momentum as blue streaks of lightning began  to form across the metal surface. He then used it to charge straight ahead.    
  
Tony moved out of the way just in time as Thor struck the head of the Leviathan with a fully charged Mjolnir. And Tony had a giddy sort of happiness when he felt the tendrils of electricity reach his suit, and though it was minute, he could feel it charged up his suit a bit. "Really convenient having a moving battery around," he grinned.  
  
Thor smashed the head of the Leviathan down into the concrete road with his hammer, killing it and stopping it effectively, and destroying the road in the process. Then he turned to Tony who was hovering just close by.  
  
"The good Captain told me that you had an idea on how to stop the Tesseract?"  
  
Tony nodded as he landed on the cracked concrete beside the Thundor god."Before we talk though," Tony opened his visor, and cut off communications with the team. He walked closer to Thor and reached out. Only to have the god take a step back and stay out of reach. The god had an eyebrow raised, questioning the mortal's motives.  
  
Tony rolled his eyes openly. "Just gonna take this blondie," he muttered as he stepped forward again and pulled out Thor's earpiece.  "You don't want them hearing what I'm about to tell you. At least not yet, until we both get confirmation."  
  
Thor looked at Tony with a slight frown, obviously confused.  
  
"Now that we're out of earshot, we can talk," Tony muttered, humor gone from his voice and expression as he regarded Thor.  
  
Thor frowned even more when he saw this serious side of Iron Man, one that he had never seen before. "Why must the others not hear of this...?"  
  
"Because it's about your brother," Tony said quickly. He could see how Thor's emotions were running through his eyes.  He had to do this quickly before Thor changed his mind and before the rest of the team found out. They wouldn't sit tight with their communications down. Especially  Captain America, he would want to know what's happening with the entire team.  
  
"My brother? Has Loki attacked you?" Thor demanded to know. And thank god, even he knew how to keep his booming voice down when it was needed. Apparently Loki was important enough for him to be careful of his vocal volume.  
  
"He was at my tower. And no, stop interrupting me," Tony muttered as he raised his hand to stop the god from speaking again and asking him anymore questions while he was still talking. "I need you to confirm something for me. His eyes, they are green yes?"  
  
Thor's concerned look turned into a confused one. He didn't see the point of the questions obviously. "Yes, my brother has always had green eyes since we were children. But what is the point of..."  
  
Tony looked at Thor straight on as he cut him off. "It turns blue when he uses the scepter."  
  
That was all Tony said, and he could see the flash of realization dawn on the Thunderer. So he wasn't really that slow as Tony had made him out to be. "Are you certain Man of Iron?" he asked, his hand tightening on Mjolnir.  
  
Tony nodded.  
  
Thor's jaw tightened and he placed his hand on Tony's shoulder, squeezing it. "If you are right, then I owe you a debt of gratitude," he said in a low solemn voice. Then, without warning, he went off into the air, speeding towards Tony's tower.  
  
Just in time too, as Rogers, Romanoff and Barton arrived to where Tony was, minus one Thunder God.  
  
"Where did Thor fly off too?" Rogers asked as they finally managed to reach Tony.  
  
"Family party," Tony muttered with a grin as he put his face piece back on, the metal shielding his expression from the rest of the team. He looked around them, just now realizing that they were missing one green mean fighting machine. "Where's Bruce?"  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so yey, we're back to the shorter chapters :) I hope this will be an easier read :)  
> the next chapters are gonna get longer again, unless I cut them into sub chapters.


	11. Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thor finds Loki in Stark Tower, but will he be able to convince him to let go of the Scepter? Oh and where in heavens is Bruce?

  
Loki was left to his own devices on the balcony of Stark Tower now that Stark was out of the way. The power of the Mind Stone was more powerful than before, and if he would take a guess, it would be because the Tesseract had opened the portal to the Mad Titan's realm.  
  
He hadn't anticipated this to be honest. He had expected a rise in power from the Mind Stone when the portal was opened, but not of this magnitude.  With his own mental defenses, he had thought that the Mind Stone would only be able to take over his powers, but he hadn't expected the Mad Titan's servant to actually try to use the Mind Stone to control his mind.

And he dared, that sniveling servant dared to try and control Loki  completely? Treat him like some lowly slave?

  
_You really thought we would let your mind be free?_  
  
Loki staggered backwards as he clutched his head. "You will not rule here," he snarled as he tried to hold on to his own sanity. Because if he lost it here, there was no telling what the Mad Titan's servant will do with him as a pawn. He couldn't lose control here. He couldn't lose. There was too much at stake. He needed his mind to be his completely if his plan was to come to fruition.   
  
_I was right. You are but a child godling._ _Are you really that naive?_  
  
Loki growled low in his throat. "I expect his servant to follow his orders," he growled again. "What would he say, if his servant costs him the Tesseract?"  
  
_You dare!_  
  
Loki smirked despite the struggle he was going through to maintain control over himself. "You're not the Mad Titan, I care not what I say to you. I answer to him, and I give the Tesseract to him. You are nothing."  
  
He heard the snarl in his mind and then felt the impending power stop before it could overwhelm him.  
  
The Other had left him.  
  
Loki took a deep breath in relief. His black hair was clinging to the sides of his cheeks, and sweat was dripping down on the marble floor as he tried to breathe. Not only the Mad Titan, even his servant's influence through the Mind Stone was stronger with the Void so close to the tower. He snarled and punched the floor in his anger. He could not fail now.  
  
"Loki."  
  
Loki paused, taking a few seconds before he looked up. In his desire to shut the Other from his mind, he didn't even feel or hear the arrival of the usually loud Asgardian.  
  
Loki sneered. "Thor." He couldn't let his plans fall here, not now. He wished for Thor to just attack him. Thor not being loud was always a bad sign for Loki, because it meant he was catching on to his schemes.  
  
  
Thor looked on worriedly, then quickly stepped closer to his brother and grabbed his arm. "Loki, stop this madness right now."  
  
The grip was tight and firm but it wasn't as harsh as it had been during the other times Thor had caught him like this. And this simply strengthened Loki's suspicion. If Thor was being lenient...  
  
No no no. Out of all of them Thor was the one who shouldn't know.  
  
If he found out, all his plans would come to ruin.  
  
"This isn't you brother. You are one for tricks and misdeeds, but to rule an entire realm is not how your mind works. "  
  
"And you know that soooo well Odinson," Loki spat the last name, his lips curling into a sneer and silently  wishing that he could insult Thor enough to throw him off his tail.  
  
But Thor was steadfast. Not the smartest cookie in the jar but obviously the most stubborn. Loki seriously wanted to punch him right now, for being so stubborn. So Loki tried another approach. If insulting Thor didn't work, maybe threatening those close to him might.  
  
"Stay out of my way Odinson, and maybe, maybe I will spare your Jane Foster from the deliciously excruciating pain I plan to inflict on her very soul."  
  
Loki saw his eyes narrow. Good, so this is how he should go to get Thor off the trail. But before he could pounce on the idea, Thor gave his arm another tug.  
  
"I will not fall for your tricks this time brother, nor for your harsh words."  
  
When did Thor ever grow an eye for his tricks Loki wondered as he wrenched his arm away from his brother. But the Thunder God has always been the stronger of the two, and when he sealed his grip, well it was sealed.and Loki cursed that brute strength of a true Asgardian.  
  
"No tricks, just wicked truth. Truth that I want to rule, and that all these years, you knew nothing about me!" Loki spat at him.  
  
Thor let out a growl and dragged Loki to the broken window, courtesy of Stark earlier(with a little help from Loki). "Look at this brother," Thor's voice boomed  as he motioned with his free hand. "This destruction, is this what you seek for the world you wish to rule?"  
  
Loki looked away from the destruction and snarled at Thor. "I am regarded as a god of destruction if you've forgotten."  
  
"God of trickery, mischief, fire and change, never of destruction," Thor growled. Then, as if forcing himself to calm down, he asked in a lower tone. "Let me help you brother," he said, his grip tightening as he whipped Loki around, to force the trickster god to face him. "I know not what ails you but..."  
  
"The only thing that ails me is the rule of Odin!"  
  
"Who controls the would be king?" Thor demanded, again not taking the bait.  
  
That question, plus the blue eyes that bore into his own made Loki stop speaking. Silver tongue turned to lead, and by Thor nonetheless. Who would have thought?  
  
When he got no answer from Loki, Thor shook his arm to try to get his attention back. "Tell me brother, who?!"  
  
Loki felt his fear rise. Thor was being as Thor-like as he could. Why now of all times? Why did he have to revert to the older brother that Loki knew and loved all his life? Not the Thor that was blinded by fame and glorious battle, but the Thor that was bullheaded and naive enough to forgive his faults and trust him when no one else did.  
  
_His_ brother.  
  
And Loki feared it. Because in his plans, this was the one thing he had discounted. For Thor to forgive him, to trust him, like he did when they were children. For things to go back to the way they were. If he saw through his plans here and now, then all the planning Loki had done for years would be for naught.  
  
"If not who, then why, why must you do this brother? Why must you suffer alone?" Thor changed his questions, pressing on.  
  
Loki looked down at the floor, not meeting Thor's gaze as his free hand reached into his pocket to retrieve a dagger. There was no other way.  
  
"To protect my own," his words were whispered, hushed. A tone that Thor would recognize as when Loki spoke of truth. A tone that he had not heard in years.  
  
"Brother, you....!" Thor's words were cut off as he felt the sharp pain on his side. He looked down, and saw  Loki's dagger sheathed smoothly between the plates of his armor.It was an enchanted blade, for a simple wound should not be enough to render Thor weak. But this one wounded him just slightly yet sucked out his strength much more than a huge gaping wound would.  
  
"Forgive me Thor, it has to be done," Loki said as he avoided Thor's gaze and guided his brother's body down on to the ground, ignoring the confused look Thor was giving him. Loki straightened and then looked behind them.  
  
It was here.  
  
The green beast.  
  
It advanced on him. But Loki was not afraid.  
  
  
"I hadn't planned on you touching the scepter," Loki said as he walked away from Thor and towards the Hulk, who was surprisingly calm for a creature that functioned on anger. "I needed you out of the picture because among the humans, you were the greatest threat to my plan. But perhaps, like this, you could be of use." Loki came close enough to the Hulk that it was making Thor wonder why the creature (who had beaten him senseless just hours before) was not attacking Loki.  
  
"Take care of Thor."  
  
The Hulk made a loud huff of breath and walked towards Thor. "Puny god," it muttered as it picked up Thor by the arm and placed him on Stark's couch, at least one that wasn't littered with glass shards.  
  
"What... what in Odin's name is happening?" the Thunder God growled as he tried to get up, only to have the Hulk push him back down on the couch.  
  
"Stay," the Hulk said as he cracked his knuckles. And stay Thor did. Because he could not defend himself against this with his brother's enchantment upon him.  
  
"Make sure he doesn't involve himself. Asgard cannot be linked to this."  
  
The Hulk made another huff. He definitely understood what Loki was saying.  
  
Loki turned around and gave his brother one last look, then he disappeared, leaving Thor with more questions than answers.  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so Tony got it half right. Loki's powers aren't his own, they are strengthened and taken over by the Mind Stone. But his mind is still his own. Given this, what are his plans exactly? 
> 
> Also,this is my explanation as to why Loki had boarded the Helicarrier in the first place. In the movie, it wasn't really explained why Loki allowed himself to be captured. So I made my own version, of him wanting Bruce out of the way and keeping him from having a chance at stopping the Tesseract. 
> 
> Hmmmm the plot thickens and I hope you like the direction I'm taking this.


	12. Into the Void

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The war wages on and Tony risks his life for the world.

  
What was taking so long?!  
  
Given that Tony was not the most patient person on the team, hell, on the planet, Thor was taking too damn long! And where was Bruce?!  
  
"What the hell is taking them so long?!"  
  
"Yelling won't make things go any faster Stark, now concentrate on taking out the enemy."  
  
Tony rolled his eyes at Rogers' attempt to make him concentrate. There was no way he could, not when he was eagerly waiting for all this to stop, if Thor could get through to his brother. If there was anyone here who had a small chance of breaking the control over Loki, it would be Thor. Because everyone else had no idea what was happening.  
  
Tony was down to his last 37% of power, and he knew that most of them were getting tired from battling it out with the Chitauri without Thor and the Hulk fighting with them.  
  
"You know as well as I do that we can't hold them off forever Cap. We need to find some way to close that portal."  
  
"I thought you already knew how!"  
  
Tony rolled his eyes at the outburst. "If I did then shouldn't Thor have done that already?" he muttered. "Maybe I was wrong, maybe Earth science does not work on alien tech, but we still gotta find a way."  
  
Tony cursed under his breath as one of the Chitauri shot closer than he had anticipated and singed part of his armor. "Shit, they're getting better at using those guns of theirs," Tony muttered.  
  
"Yeah we noticed too," Rogers muttered.  
  
"You didn't train them did you Legolas?"  
  
A muttered curse was quickly followed by a "My fingers just might slip," from the archer made Tony laugh and then shut up.  
  
"Sir, I would suggest not angering your teammates so your chances of surviving this might become better?"  
  
"I love you too Jarv."  
  
"Sir, love has nothing to do with my programming."  
  
Tony laughed again. "Jarv, how are we doing?" he asked as he charged up his repulsors and fired at another Chitauri biker gang horde. That's what he called the ones on the floating jet skis. Because he wasn't Tony Stark if he didn't find humor in the most dire of situations.  
  
The AI was silent for a moment before saying, "Sir I believe it's a losing battle."  
  
"Yeah I know, but we can't give up. If we lose this world then where will I spend all my billions on?"  
  
"Your positive attitude is unparalleled sir."  
  
Tony could just taste the sarcasm in his AI's voice. Tony shot his repulsor beam at another cluster of Chitauri biker gangs and he heard the gentle beeping that was the warning that he was getting to the 30% mark of his suit's power.  
  
"Jarv? How are things at home? I might need to grab a new suit, this one's almost ...."  
  
But he didn't get to ask the whole question as Nick Fury's voice interrupted him. "Stark."  
  
"What is it this time Furious?" he asked. "I was having a really lovely chat with Jarvis about..."  
  
"Save it for your honeymoon Stark. We have a nuke coming your way."  
  
Tony's eyes widened and he took a deep breath. "ETA?" That snapped him out of his joyful mood. A nuke would not only destroy all the Chitauri, it would level all of New York as well. There was no way in Hell Tony would allow that to happen. Not in his city.  
  
  
"Three minutes," Fury muttered, relief obvious in his voice when he heard Tony's response. "Sorry about the sudden..."  
  
"Don't apologize, feels weird. Now shut up and let me work."  
  
Jarvis was already analyzing the nuke that was coming their way because the AI was still remotely connected to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s computer.  
  
"Sir, this payload will level everything in New York."  
  
"I know Jarv, but we don't have time to evacuate the city," Tony muttered as he raced towards the nuke. His mind was racing as well, trying to come up with a viable solution. Evacuation was impossible because of the time restraint. Rerouting was impossible because the explosion radius was too big. There was no way he or Jarvis could disarm it in less than three minutes. He could try, but there was a 99.9% chance of failure with that idea. What was the point if the died and everyone died with him? Maybe rerouting... in the ocean maybe? Not enough time to reach a safe depth, and doing that would probably poison all the oceans of Earth.  
  
"Think Tony, think," he muttered. There has to be a way, there has to be a hole where he could stuff that....A hole. Tony felt his lips turn up into a grin. "Genius."  
  
"Jarv, map a trajectory from contact to the wormhole. We're sending the Chitauri a surprise Christmas present."  
  
"Sir I don't think that's a good i...."  
  
"Come one Jarv, everyone wants an early Christmas." Tony said it as cheerfully as he could, but he knew that Jarvis knew how afraid he was. Who wasn't afraid of dying? And he didn't need Jarvis or anyone else to tell him that this was a one way trip. But he was the Iron Man right? He came back from Afghanistan with nothing but parts for a rocket to save his life. He would survive the impossible.  
  
"Sir, we're approaching the nuke."  
  
"Got it Jarv, help me steady the boosters."  
  
"Yes sir."  
  
Tony had it in his sights now. A pale white in contrast to the clear blue sky. "If we survive this I'm gonna find out who did this, because Furious seemed furious about this too," he muttered as he sped up and intercepted the missile. His and Jarvis' combined control managed to alter the direction enough to lead the rocket skywards. "This is heavier than it looks," he muttered as they finally managed to shift the trajectory enough.  
  
"Stark!"  
  
"What do you think you're doing?!"  
  
"Is that a missile?!"  
  
All three spoke into their comms at the exact same time and Tony saw all three of the remaining Avengers on his HUD. "Oh so Romanov has improved vision too? Surprised you could see me from down there," he teased.  
  
"Stark, this is no time for jokes, what are you...?"  
  
"Not joking Caps, I gotta bring this payload somewhere."  
  
"Stark..."  
  
The change in Rogers' tone meant that they knew just what this missile's payload was and knew where he was going. His direction should be obvious enough for all to see.  
  
"Save it for when I get back."  
  
And with that Tony cut off his communication lines. He didn't need anyone's pity right now, or anyone's concern. He had to do what he could do.  
  
"Hah, imagine the look on the old man's face if I tell him his worthless son saved the world while his perfect soldier looked on," Tony joked as he came closer and closer to the wormhole. "Hey Jarv."  
  
"Yes sir?"  
  
"Take care of Pepper and Happy."  
  
"Will do sir."  
  
"Ok, let's do this," Tony muttered as he sped towards the Wormhole.  
  
*  
  
Loki had just finished with Thor when he felt the strange tug on the Mind Stone. It was strange, different. It wasn't the cold control that he had felt earlier. In fact it was the total opposite. He could feel the control weakening. That was impossible, the Chitauri were winning weren't they?  
  
Loki's brows furrowed as he reappeared outside Stark Tower, in clear view of the Tesseract and Dr. Selvig.  
  
"She's behaving like a baby," Selvig said as he turned around to face Loki. The astro physisist's brow raised in concern when he saw the frown on the god's face. "Is there anything wrong? Everything's still going according to plan right?"  
  
Loki shook his head. "Something's amiss," he muttered. It was only a short stint, but this doctor that Thor had befriended was a man he knew he could trust. Besides, any Midgardian who could study the Tesseract without going crazy was someone he admired. Midgardian minds were simpler and less evolved and yet this man managed to grasp such knowledge without going mad.  
  
Selvig turned back to his machine, looked it over, then turned back to Loki. "There's no issue with the Tesseract. Her stream of power is stable and there's no pull from the other side, so we still control when and how long she'll be open. I know we should fear Him but if he can't open the portal from the other side, we should be ok as long as we have the fail safe right?"  
  
Loki nodded as his grip on the staff tightened just slightly. The fail safe. Should the Mad Titan try to open the wormhole from the other side, or should he break their agreement and come here himself... Loki would have to cut off the power to the Tesseract himself. It was a big gamble to make the deal with the Mad Titan, but it was his only choice at the moment. Besides, he was never one for finding easy ways, was he?  
  
But he had gotten this far already. He couldn't fail now.  
  
Dr Selvig's hand on his shoulder shook him from his thoughts. "Thank you for trusting me enough to tell me the whole plan, or at least more than the others."  
  
The corner of Loki's lips curled just slightly. "You were integral to the plan Doctor. The others, they didn't have to know. Besides, I can't have ALL of you touch the Mind Stone, that would have been troublesome."  
  
Selvig shook his head. "Most of them probably still won't trust you even with this knowledge. Especially Barton."  
  
"His mind was the most stubborn of all," Loki agreed. "I had to make sure I didn't break him when the Mind Stone weaved its control over him."  
  
He looked around the destruction around them and sighed softly, the disdain clear in his eyes.  "Just a little more," he muttered. "If he's convinced that I put Midgard on its knees,then he will leave it alo.... " Loki stopped mid sentence, his eyes going wide as saucers as he clutched the scepter so tightly his knuckles were turning white.  
   
"Loki?"  
  
Loki ignored Selvig's concerns as he felt that tug on the Mind Stone again. This time it was stronger and he could feel its hold on his powers disappearing.  And he could also sense the distress from the Chitauri. The Chitauri were retreating. No, they were... they were dying. A vast number. It couldn't be.. what was causing this?  
  
No no no, if the Midgardians had found a way to attack the Mad Titan's forces in his realm, there was no telling what he would do. He would not honor his agreement with Loki.  
  
Loki took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down. And when he was, he flexed his hand, trying to access his power. His power. It was his own again, he couldn't feel the cold grip of the Mind Stone over his power anymore. His brows furrowed slightly as he used his own magic to delve into the Void to see what was happening now that the Mind Stone had eased its control over his own power. The blue flicker in his eyes slowly disappearing as he wielded his own power.As he delved deeper into the Void, he closed his eyes to focus better.

The Chitauri, they were ... gone. Was it a bomb? But who had delivered ....no.  
  
Loki's brows furrowed deeply when he felt Stark's presence in that Void.  
  
"Foolish Midgardian!" he growled angrily as his eyes snapped open, making Selvig take a step back.  
  
"Not you," he grumbled at Selvig as he walked towards the Tesseract. "You're certain the failsafe works?" he asked.  
  
"Yes, using the theories you gave me, it will work," Selvig said as he looked at Loki in concern. "Are we closing it now? Is it enough to convince Him?"  
  
Loki growled again. "Stark wiped out his army, my deal with the Mad Titan is void," he muttered angrily as he channeled his power again. He searched the Void for the human once more. "There's no gravity in the Void you stupid foolish man," he snarled again.He pushed the scepter into Selvig's hands. "Activate the fail safe when i give the signal," he instructed as he closed his eyes and channeled his power to drag Stark out of the Void.  
  
It was easy to find him in the nothingness because of his brightly colored suit. So Loki wrapped his power around him, engulfing him in a green mist that would allow Loki to drag him back down.  
  
This was bad, Stark was starting to fade.  
  
The Void was, as the name suggested, nothingness. It will suck in all the light, all the goodness, all the life out of any living creature and leave nothing but darkness for the Mad Titan and his allies.  
  
"You didn't know what you were getting into, but you still go, foolish!" he growled again as he dragged him faster out of the Void before the Mad Titan or his servant could get to him. He couldn't be captured. If he was, he wouldn't survive, and even in death the Mad Titan would still be able to grab information from his memories. And with Stark's vast knowledge with weapons, far more advanced than what should be allowed on Midgard, there was no telling what the Mad Titan could do.  
  
It took a lot of effort and a lot of his power to just get this deep into the Void, and the strain was showing. He could feel his hand shake slightly as he focused his full attention on Stark. The stupid Midgardian had gone in too deep, so it took a lot more power than necessary to pull him back out.  
  
But Loki managed it somehow. He pulled him through the portal. "Now!" he said to Selvig as his eyes snapped back open.  
  
He was panting hard from exertion, the Void just really sucked everything out of whomever came close enough to it. But he couldn't stop now.

Based on theory, one Infinity Stone could be stopped by another if the disruption to the power source was done at one exact point. But no one had ever tested it out, and there was no telling what would happen. Maybe it would explode, maybe not, Loki couldn't take that chance either. So, tired as he was, he wrapped the Tesseract and Dr. Selvig with his power as the Mind Stone clashed with its sister.  
  
The two Infinity Stones clashed, and a bright light engulfed them all as the Mind Stone cut off the Tesseract's power supply. With that, the Wormhole slowly closed, just as Stark fell down from the sky. Loki's mind scrambled, Thor and the beast were both in the Tower, there was no one else who could catch him if he fell at this velocity.  
  
"And you proclaim yourself a genius of your realm," Loki muttered, even though Stark obviously could not hear him. He slowed down his velocity enough to have him land on the ground, far enough from the Avengers for them not to see his power around Stark. But close enough so they could get to him on time.  
  
Loki let out a breath as he laid Stark on the concrete, only taking his eyes off him when he sensed that Captain America was close enough. "Now, I have a bigger problem to worry about," he muttered as he walked towards Dr. Selvig.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have always thought that Tony falling from the Wormhole was a strange thing, because no gravity in space. So I hope this made sense ^^
> 
> Also, the theory I had with the Infinity Stones was that only an Infinity Stone could stop another Infinity Stone. They can't destroy each other, but enough to affect the other enough to stop the power source.


	13. Home?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What did Tony see inside the Void?

  
Darkness.  
  
No it wasn't darkness. It was worse than that. Darkness was the absence of light. This place, it was nothingness. There was nothing here.  
  
No life, no light, nothing. It reeked of death and despair and Tony felt it eating away at his very soul. He felt it crawling into his mind as Jarvis' voice faded into crackling noises in his ear.  
  
He felt cold. Maybe his suit's systems was failing?  
  
Wait,  right. Space. No oxygen.  
  
Was he dying?  
  
So this was how it felt?  
  
Where was he even? Maybe they'd never find his body. He would float through space forever even after he died huh?  
  
"Peachy..." he grumbled, hating how hoarse his own voice sounded. It didn't sound like him anymore. Was this the voice of a dying man?  
  
Then he saw the explosion that destroyed the Chitauri mothership.

Light, finally, in this infinite darkness. It was beautiful but it also hurt his eyes.  
  
And then he was falling.  
  
Why?  
  
How?  
  
No gravity in space.  
  
Didn't matter. With the ships destroyed, Earth was safe now.  
  
And that was the last thought that he had before he finally succumbed and lost consciousness.  
  
\----  
  
Tony's eyes snapped open, gasping as he inhaled, quickly filling his lungs with oxygen. Alarms quickly sounded around him, but he was too disoriented to notice or care.

  
Where was he?! His eyes darted around, taking in the walls and the ceiling. He couldn't see clearly because of the glare in his eyes. Was he drugged? He was in a strange white room, and it smelled really weird.

Was he captured? Because he damn well didn't recognize this room. Tony's eyes widened some more as he started to panic. Was he being experimented on?!  
  
As his panic started to build up even more, Tony tried to stand and found that he couldn't. Something was holding him down. With panicked eyes he looked down at his hands and saw wires. What the hell... He grabbed at the wires that were buried into his skin. Wires.., they really were experimenting on him! He grabbed them and pulled them out. His hand started to bleed from where he had torn out the wires, but he would live. And he would rather bleed to death than let some alien race experiment on him.

He had to leave. He had to escape. He had to warn everyone, they were still here!

Tony tried to move off this contraption that held him. But his legs felt weird, like a million needles were pricking his skin. But he paid it no heed, he forced his way off and on to the floor. He squinted his eyes, trying to fight the glare, and he spotted a door at the very edge of the room.  
  
A way out. Good!

What if the enemy had realized he had awakened? Would they kill him? Or sedate him and experiment on him again?

He didn't want to stay here to find out.  
  
But before he could get there, the door slid open and someone or something walked in. Tony's eyes widened and he panicked.  
  
  
"Tony!" a female voice suddenly cried out.  
  
"Like hell!" he growled as he grabbed the wire that he had pulled from his arm and ran towards the source of the voice. He would escape from this or die trying. In his panicked state, he really couldn't see clearly, his panic was overlapping with his sense of reality.  
  
"Stark!" this time it was another voice, a deeper one, and he felt a hand wrap around his, stopping him before he could reach his target.  
  
Tony looked around in panic. No no... they couldn't capture him again. He had to escape.  
  
Then another hand gripped his shoulder and shook him. The same male voice saying "Stark!" over and over again. "Snap out of it!" the male voice said again, shaking him stronger now.  
  
"Steve please... just..."  
  
"No Pepper, he has to snap out of it. Giving him more morphine won't help him get better."  
  
Tony fell silent. Steve. Pepper. Those names sounded familiar...  
  
"....not been the same since he came out of that wormhole!"  
  
"He won't get better if you keep coddling him!"  
  
"That's not your call!"  
  
Tony blinked his eyes a few times, trying to get a better sense of his surroundings. His eyes finally focused,finally adjusting to light after what felt like days or weeks of not using them. He opened his lips to speak, his voice sounding like it wasn't his, coarse and to his ear it sounded more like a croak than an actual word.  
  
"Pep?"  
  
The shouting around him ceased and he could now focus enough to see that their attention was on him.  
  
  
"Stark"  
  
  
"Tony... Tony oh my god..."  
  
And then Tony felt the hand on him loosen its grip, only to be replaced by arms around his shoulders, pulling him in tight for a hug.

He knew this, he knew this smell, this warm skin...  
  
"Tony shhhh, you're home now, you're safe."

  
Pepper. It wasn't a dream. He wasn't in the Wormhole. He was home.  
  
"S good to be back"  
  
*  
  
"How long was I out?" Tony asked after he took a long drink of water. Tony and water who would have thought that the day would come. But his throat felt so parched. And he needed to take some pain meds for the wounds he had reopened as well as the new lacerations on his hand from the IV that he had torn out in his confusion earlier. He had to take the medicine orally now. What happened earlier was a hallucination due slight overdose in morphine as well as a rising panic attack and Rogers had put his foot down that Tony would have just the recommended dosage after that episode.  
  
  Tony's voice was still hoarse, but it seemed to get better the more water he drank.  
  
Pepper and Rogers were seated on the couch across his, or was it the hospital's, bed. Both seemed to look relieved that he was sitting and talking. But Pepper still looked worried that he still didn't let the nurse reinsert the IV into his arm.  
  
"Three weeks since the battle of New York," Rogers said as he stood and took a stack of newspapers and put them on the table close to Tony so he could read them later on. "Three weeks since you saved New York and the world."  
  
"Three weeks huh?"  
  
"Oxygen deprivation. We thought you'd never wake up," Pepper added.  
  
"It's a miracle you even made it out of there."  
  
Tony's hand tightened around his cup enough to crush it. "Let's not talk about that," he growled lowly. He had just gotten over his panic attack earlier. He didn't want any memories resurfacing.  
  
  
He saw Pepper making a cutting motion with her hand to stop Rogers from talking and thankfully the captain took that as a sign to change the subject.  
  
"So... um... yeah, good to have you back," he said as he placed his hand on Tony's shoulder and gave it a gentle pat. "We've never been friends, and I'm sure you'd much rather have Jarvis or Bruce or Pepper to fill you in. But I still want you to know that after what I've seen, you're more than a soldier in my book. You're a teammate Stark, and the Avengers will always have your back."  
  
"Uh yeah, awkward," Tony muttered as he put the crushed paper cup on the bedside table and took the most recent paper. It had the picture of Stark Tower on its front page. But, wait why was there only an A left?  
  
Pepper probably saw the look of confusion. "It was the only letter left after the attack. But we thought it was fitting."  
  
Tony browsed the headline and sighed. "A...Avengers Tower huh? So are we a boarding house now?"  
  
Pepper nodded, smiling a bit now that there was a hint of humor in Tony's voice. "We had spare floors. And it's not like everyone had a home to go back to. I thought you'd want it this way,' her last sentence sounded slightly unsure.  
  
Tony waved his hand. "It's fine Pep. I don't mind." And he saw her relax visibly on the couch.  
  
"So where is everyone?"  
  
Rogers looked at Pepper, as if checking with her if it was alright to give him the information now. When she nodded, Rogers turned back to Tony.  
  
"Bruce is in his lab, holed up. He doesn't want to talk to anyone else, just you. But at least he is staying in the Tower. Clint and Nat are stuck with S.H.I.E.L.D. and helping with cleanup. The Chitauri didn't all just miraculously die after the Tesseract was secured. We wish they did."  
  
"That would have been cool huh?"  
  
"Yes it would," Rogers agreed. "Thor, he went back to Asgard, taking the prisoner with him."  
  
Tony's eyes widened just slightly. "Prisoner?" he asked carefully.

Did Thor not talk to Loki? Or did Thor just ignore what he said and took his brother's crimes at face value.  
  
Rogers nodded. "Jarvis can show you when you're better. But Thor assured us that Loki won't be back."  
  
Tony felt his jaw tighten when he heard the relief in Rogers' voice. He couldn't blame him no, but he really really really wanted to punch Thor right now. He had risked his own hide to tell the big oaf that his brother was being controlled and he did nothing with that information. And now Rogers was acting all calm and happy even though their real enemy was still out there. It wasn't Loki they should be fearing but the one who was controlling him.  
  
"He won't be back huh," Tony repeated as he tried to steady his breathing. If he wasn't, then they were all screwed. Because he was the only one who knew where to find the real perpetrator of the war, he was the only one who knew the real master of the Chitauri. Tony took a deep breath and turned to Pepper. "Pep, when can I get back to the tower?"  
  
Pepper got up and walked up to Tony. "You are in the tower. We just asked Jarvis to stay quiet for a while until you've recovered," she said gently. "And you're not going to go to your lab. It's off limits until you get better."  
  
"I know that already, it's always that same rule when I get injured" he muttered. Home huh? So he wasn't in some hospital. "But when did the tower ever have a hospital?"  
  
"Medical wing. It's on the 10th floor, but you weren't interested in it at all when we were doing the final floorplan," Pepper said as she placed her hand over Tony's and gave his hand a squeeze. "now get some rest. Captain Rogers and I will leave so you can have some ok?"  
  
Normally Tony would whine and bitch about being left alone. Well he wouldn't be sleeping that's for sure, because he knew the nightmares would continue if he did. But he needed time to talk to Jarvis alone without Pepper and Rogers around. "Yeah, thanks," he murmured.  
  
Pepper smiled at him and then turned to Rogers.  
  
"Really glad you're ok," Rogers said his parting bit as he closed the door behind himself and Pepper.  
  
As soon as they were gone, Tony took a deep breath. "Jarvis?"  
  
"Yes sir."  
  
"You sneaky son of a bitch, I really thought I was in a hospital," Tony muttered at his AI.  
  
"It's good to have you back sir."  
  
"Feels good to be back Jarvis." Tony took another deep breath as he rubbed his hands together. "Now compile everything you have on Loki, Jane Foster, and Eric Selvig. I'm going to visit my good green friend."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took some time. I was busy writing the latter chapters to edit this one >


	14. Bruce

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony finally finds Bruce and they find the chance to have a short talk about what happened during the invasion.

Tony made sure that Jarvis was monitoring both Pepper and Rogers. If they found out that he had gotten out of bed and was walking around the tower,they would both have a field day and he would find himself under room arrest, which sounded really awful.

Really, one Pepper hovering over him like a mother hen was enough. He didn't need Rogers to follow in her footsteps. And boy was he lucky that Rhodey was out on assignment. Three of them would have been too much for Tony to bear.

Tony took the elevator to Bruce's floor. And when the doors opened, Tony let out a soft sigh, he and Bruce were too similar in some ways. The floor was eerily silent and completely devoid of light except for the ones from the laboratory. Bruce was indeed holed up in his lab. Just like Tony was on bad days or on really good days.  
  
Well at least he wasn't hulking out, that was good, right?  
  
Tony didn't have his Starkpad, as Pepper was smart enough to not leave one close to the medical bay. But Tony remembered the general layout of this floor before it had been converted into Bruce's personal pad. So it wasn't that hard to find the laboratory. Besides, it was the only light source on this floor at the moment so it really wasn't that hard to find him.  
  
Tony walked up to the laboratory entrance, only to stand there for a few seconds without it opening and ended up looking like an idiot. "Oh yeah, not letting anyone in," he  remembered. "Jarv, override. Tony Stark."  
  
"Override initiated."  
  
And just like that, the doors opened and Tony walked into the laboratory. This lab was different from his own workshop, and honestly it was cleaner and more organized than his. Bruce was neat when he worked even when he went low.

It didn't take him long to locate Bruce. He saw the doctor huddled over one of the instruments on the far side of the room. Bruce had heard the door opening and had scrambled to get up to face whoever it was who had entered.  
  
Tony saw Bruce's eyes widen just slightly and relief wash over his features when he recognized Tony. "Tony, oh thank god," Bruce breathed out, as he reached up and adjusted his glasses. "Oh god, it's really you, you're awake," he said as he walked towards Tony.  
  
Tony smiled as he took in the haggard look on Bruce's face. He lost a few pounds, so obviously not eating. And his face had a sunken look to it, and the bags under his eyes just told Tony that he wasn't getting enough sleep either.  
  
He lifted his arms sideways and in the most Tony Stark fashion, said, "I'm glad to be back."  
  
That earned him a chuckle from Bruce. "Glad to have you back, really," he said as he walked close and placed a hand on Tony's shoulder. "It's been quiet without you, Pepper was complaining that her job was becoming too easy too."  
  
Tony laughed at that, before wheezing when the action made his wound hurt again. So the healing thing that Loki had done to him had faded? Or was it because he was so far away that it wasn't working? Tony kind of missed the fucked up way his skin stitched itself back together back on the Helicarrier.  
  
"I'm sure," Tony said as he smiled at Bruce. "So ... whatcha working on big guy?"  
  
Bruce shrugged and shook his head. "Nothing."  
  
"Nothing?" Tony asked again. Holed up for three weeks and nothing?  
  
Bruce sighed and he lifted his hand to rub his face. "I've just been thinking about things."  
  
"For three weeks?"  
  
"Well, it's just hard to grasp really," Bruce sighed as he sat down by the microscopes and motioned for Tony to sit as well. "You shouldn't be standing yet you know."  
  
"Gonna turn into a vegetable if I don't move," Tony said but sat down anyway.  
  
"Do Pepper and Steve know that..."  
  
Tony shook his head before Bruce could continue.  
  
"Alright then," Bruce said softly as he ran his hand through his unruly hair. "I'll keep this short because they will skin me alive if they know you're up here instead of resting." He took a deep breath and looked at Tony. "You're really the guy I needed to talk to... You know...um... I was there, the whole battle. The other guy was there. We saw everything and did nothing."  
  
Tony took a deep breath of his own. So the Hulk was around, but why didn't he help? Where was he when everyone needed him?  
  
"Let me guess, not a team player huh? Would have guessed. That's what they said about me too."  
  
Bruce let out a sad chuckle and he shook his head. "Actually he wanted to help. But things got complicated."  
  
"Try me," Tony said as he leaned forward. Everything was already complicated as it was, how much worse could it get? "So where were you? Watching from the sidelines as we were all getting pummeled?"  
  
Bruce shook his head. "I was here," he said, moving his left arm to indicate the room.  
  
"You were here. In this lab," Tony's brow raised in question, not believing it.  
  
"Not here here, I meant here, in your building. In the penthouse to be exact." Bruce said the last part as he carefully looked at Tony, waiting for his reaction.  
  
Ok, that was significant. "Oh, so you saw him throw me out the window and did nothing?"  
  
Bruce blinked then shook his head. "No no, I arrived afterwards. You were already gone when I arrived. I....I came for Loki," he his hand through his hair again, as he chose the right words to say to Tony.  
  
"Weren't we all?" Tony said with a huff.  
  
But Bruce shook his head quickly again. "No no, I wasn't there to kill him. I.. The big guy wanted to help him."  
  
Tony stared at Bruce as the doctor sat there, eyes darting from the floor to Tony's face and to his own hand. Bruce was obviously very nervous.  
  
"Go on," Tony said, careful to keep his tone level even as this information from Bruce was threatening to give him a new headache.  
  
"Look I don't want you to think I'm a traitor or ...."  
  
Tony shook his head and placed his hand on Bruce's thigh. "Not thinking that.  Whatever it is, I know you've got a reason. And now I get it why you wouldn't tell Capsicle about this, doubt he'd listen to this bedtime story."  
  
Tony's words seemed to have the right effect and Bruce seemed to calm a bit, enough to continue, but not enough to stop the trembling of his hands. "I... I can't really tell you everything. He made me promise ... "  
  
"He?"  
  
"Big guy," Bruce took a deep breath and continued. "Remember on the Helicarrier? I touched the scepter didn't I? Loki's sceptre?"  
  
Tony nodded and Bruce continued. "Well it showed me things, it showed me .... the truth. It showed me everything that was going on, and .. and Loki.. I don't blame Loki for what he did, he's not the bad guy here. He's just, he's caught up in something big, and and...."  
  
Tony sighed and placed his hand over Bruce's, giving it a gentle squeeze. "Don't force it out." But this, coming from Bruce, it just really gave Tony more reasons to think his theory was right.  
  
"But I felt that it was my fault. If you had died, and I was there but I didn't help..."  
  
Tony squeezed Bruce's hand again to cut him off. "Not your fault, not anyone's. It was my own decision and I don't regret any second of it," he added with a smile. "Was that why you were holed up in here? Refusing to talk to anyone because you thought it was your fault?"  
  
The look in Bruce's eyes confirmed his suspicions.  
  
Tony sighed and smiled at him. "Look, it's gonna take more than that to kill me. I'm fine, all's well, so stop sulking over here. You're here in candyland and you look like someone died."  
  
"You almost did."  
  
But Tony could see the beginnings of a smile on Bruce's lips.  
  
"Almost. Gonna take more than that to kill me." Tony said with a smirk.  
  
 Bruce obviously relaxed with that out of the way, his shoulders slumping forward. He must have been carrying all that burden by himself all this time that Tony was out of commission.  
  
"Well... that's a big chip off my shoulder," Bruce said, tone lighter than earlier. "But ... what do you think about Loki?"  
  
Tony was silent for a moment as he thought about it. "I don't know..." he said honestly. "I need to think about it, and...yeah. I need to think about it." He turned to Bruce and smiled. "I'll be fine, now go on, enjoy this lab, it's all yours to play with. I got a field trip to arrange."

"Tony?' Bruce asked, eyebrow raised, obviously concerned. "You're in no condition to travel."

Tony laughed. "Stop, you're gonna turn into Pepper too," he said as he got up and walked back towards the entrance. 

"I'm really glad you made it out Tony," Bruce added as Tony was about to step out.   
  
"Yeah me too," Tony said with a smile as the doors closed behind him. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a hard chapter for me because I wanted it's hard to explain something without giving away the big plan.   
> Also, forgive me for keeping this super short. The next chapter would be longer I promise <3 
> 
> Comments are appreciated <3


	15. Finding Bridges

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With more questions than answers and no one to ask about them, Tony seeks out Thor. But in order to get to Thor, he needs to talk to the only other person who is invested enough in finding the Asgardian god - Jane Foster.

  
Pepper had been elated that the lab was untouched for days as Tony had been spending most of his time in the medical bay. And was even more excited when Tony said that he was leaving for a while to go to Europe. "Traveling would be good for your recovery," she had said.  
  
"Recover from what exactly," Tony muttered as he tugged on his jacket and pulled his cap over his head. Low key, so very unTony Stark like. 

Ok so he had arrived here in his own private jet, but he had bribed air control to not leak his information out. He didn't need the media to swarm him. Because there was no telling how he would break down if they asked about the wormhole.  
  
He had broken down once when Pepper had insisted to know what happened. But she stopped before it got really bad. The media would not be as forgiving.

There was just something about the memory of the Wormhole, of the Chitauri, of New York that made him break down. He couldn't remember all of it, and he didn't want to try remembering it. Because every time he tried, he just broke down, his body remembering how it almost died.   
  
He pulled his sunglasses over his eyes as he switched off the engine of the car Jarvis had rented for him. "Since when is a BMW low key?" He asked his AI who was operating remotely via is cellphone.   
  
"I was under the impression that low key was code for something you don't commonly use. It wasn't necessary to use a lower grade car."  
  
Tony laughed at that. Jarvis knew him all too well.  
  
"Do not worry sir, I have made sure that nothing looks suspicious. Tony Stark was never in England."  
  
"Not worrying Jarv, you're the best one there is. What will I do without you?"  
  
"I'd rather not answer that sir," the AI responded.  
  
"So... are you sure she's here?" Tony looked at the restaurant in front of him. Hmmm fancy, but not super fancy. Thor's girlfriend had good taste. But why was she here if Thor wasn't? "I would be so amused if only I wasn't so desperate," Tony muttered.  
  
"Sir, I know you are amused even if you don't make a witty remark."  
  
"You've been around me for far too long," Tony chuckled as he hopped out of the car and walked to the restaurant. It looked fancy enough for a date, the ambiance looked nice and welcoming. A quick glance at the menu told Tony that it wasn't fancy enough to not be affordable for normal people but enough to require the effort to save if you were an office worker. And knowing Jane Foster, he knew she didn't earn enough that she would come here on a whim. She had to have a date, some normal guy who was willing to spend a few more bucks to catch the smart pretty lady.  
  
Tony almost felt sorry for the sucker if he ever encounters the msifortune of Thor finding out.  
  
As Tony made his way into the entrance, he was stopped by the waitress at the reception area. "Do you have a reservation sir?" she asked him with a sweet smile. She was cute, blond, Tony's type. But Tony was in no mood to really play right now.   
  
Tony smiled back and walked closer to her. When he was close enough to whisper, he slipped a few hundred bucks into her hand and lowered his sunglasses.  
  
The girl was about to protest the sudden closeness and the feel of rumpled money in her hand. But before she could scream sexual harassment, she recognized him and she let out a soft wheezing sound. Suddenly the desire to scream and move away disappeared when she found out that this was the world's wealthiest and craziest bachelor around.  
  
Tony didn't say anything, but raised his finger up to his lips in a shushing motion and then winked at her. The girl let out a soft giggle and nodded. "Right this way sir," she said as she led him to one of the tables near the window. She grabbed the reserved sign on the table and quickly pocketed it. "Just call if you need anything sir," she said with a giggle.  
  
Tony waved her off, his eyes already searching the tables for one Jane Foster. She wasn't hard to find. But it also wasn't hard to miss the embarrassing excuse of a date she had. If Thor could only see this, he would have a field day.  
  
Tony got up and walked towards them. It was obvious that she was distracted and he was desperate it was almost sad to watch.

He quickly grabbed a chair and pulled it towards their table, settling himself in the empty space.

Without a word from him both Jane and her mystery date turned to look at him.  
  
"I think you have the wrong table," the guy said.  
  
Tony chuckled and waved his hand. "If her  boyfriend up there in the sky finds out about you, you'd be lucky that I came and interfered. Now go away, shoo."  
  
The man raised his eyebrow but Tony could see how Jane's eyes had widened. She knew who he was even with his disguise, if you would call sunglasses, a hoodie and a cap on his head a disguise.   
  
"She's single."  
  
Tony laughed and shook his head. "No she's not. Now shoo before I buy the whole restaurant just so I can kick you out."  
  
"Who do you think you...!"  
  
Jane sighed and placed her hand on his to stop him from getting out of hand. "It's ok Richard, he's a friend. I'm sorry but I'll just reschedule this ok?"  
  
The man looked between Tony and Jane and then sighed when he knew he was on the losing side. Even his date was taking the side of this stranger, so what could he do?  
  
"Fine, alright, but call me ok?" he said as he got up.  
  
Jane nodded and gave him the sweetest fake smile Tony has ever seen.  
  
As soon as he had turned away, Jane had her full attention back to Tony. "Why are you here Mr. Stark?" she asked in a no nonsense tone that reminded Tony of Pepper. Thor was going to have a realllly naggy wife if Jane was anything like Pepper, Tony found himself thinking.  
   
"Not gonna lie, I need your help," he said as he looked at her behind his sunglasses.  
  
How did he know she was gonna say something? Again, that look in her eyes,so much like Pepper when she wasn't buying his bullshit. So he lifted his hand  as she opened her lips. "Before you react, hear me out first. I know you need funding and I know S.H.I.E.L.D. is making it hard to get any sponsors for your research. Very willing investor right here," he ended as he motioned towards himself.

She didn't look impressed. Her eyes were studying him like a hawk, no offense to her or Barton.  
  
 "What's the catch?" she asked carefully.  
  
"Got me there. Catch. Yeah Catch. Catch  is, I get to see the results."  
  
She crossed her arms. "I am not selling our research to Stark Industries nor am I willing to share our findings with your company."  
  
"Who said anything about my company?" Ah, and there we see the widening of the eyes. She wasn't expecting a personal investment.  
  
  
"Why would Mr. Stark be interested in astrophysics?" she asked carefully though Tony could see that she was becoming interested.  
  
"Not astrophysics per se, but I am don't take it wrong. I'm a genius, and geniuses love to soak up knowledge, you should know that. I mean you're not at my level but you're really smart too.  And if I wasn't desperate I would probably hit on you too because damn you're the prettiest astrophysicists I've ever met. But really Dr. Foster, this time I'm only interested in your studies regarding the Einstein Rosen bridge."  
  
Jane opened her lips to speak, but nothing came out. So she closed it and then tried again. "What made you desperate enough to come to me? I'm sure there are others, bigger labs that are more capable of..."  
  
Tony leaned forward on the table and pulled down his sunglasses slightly, effectively cutting her off  as he looked at her straight in the eyes. "Because no one else wants to find Thor as badly as you do," he said, knowing that she could clearly see how serious he was, and he was hoping that it would sway her  
  
"What happened?" she asked softly. "Was this because of ...?"  
  
Tony put his sunglasses back up to cover his eyes again and nodded. "Let's just say I've seen things that I shouldn't have, and your boyfriend dragged back to Norway heaven the one person who knows how to help me."  
  
Jane took a deep breath. "Who..."  
  
 So the world didn't know that it was Loki who started all this. Because obviously Jane knew who Loki was, given the files from New Mexico. That she didn't know who started the war meant that S.H.I.E.L.D. had kept the world under wraps as to who had led the invasion.  
  
  
"Let's just keep it at that," Tony muttered as he leaned back into his chair again. "So, are you letting me fund you or what?"  
  
Jane still looked skeptical but nodded in the end. "I know I'm going to regret this, but alright. I'll give Eric a call, come with me Mr Stark."  
  
"Tony please. And can I call you Jane?," Tony said, smirking as he got up and followed Jane out of the restaurant.   He got his way, when did he ever not?  
  
*  
  
"So S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn't know you're here?"  
  
Tony nodded as he parked the car and turned the engine off. He had taken off his cap by now, hating how it was pressing down on his marvelous mop of hair. And besides, he didn't really need the disguise anymore if he was going to be working with Jane and her team anyway.  
  
"Nope, as far as they're concerned I'm still recovering or locked up in my lab. As far as Pepper is concerned, I'm vacationing, taking a break so I can get better faster. So yeah no one knows I'm here really." Tony chuckled as he unlocked the doors and both of them stepped out."Bruce has an idea, but he's not telling anyone."  
  
The place they had arrived at looked like a factory and Tony raised his eyebrow as he looked around. "Unless Dr Selvig works in a car factory, I don't really see why we're here?"  
  
"Sorry, had something to look at first, I think this has something to do with the Einstein Rosen bridge so I wanted to get some data on it before going to Eric," Jane said as she shut the door of the passengers side seat and then walked up to Tony. "My intern showed me this site yesterday but I was unable to record the data. So I'm doing that now, so we could study it later."  
  
The shine in her eyes as she spoke about it just made Tony feel warm inside. She was a true scientist. Boy... he could only imagine the conversations between her science and Thor's Asgardian technology, whatever that was.  
  
"Cool," he said as he followed her. "What makes you think it has something to do with the magic bridge?"  
  
"Because if there are other portals out of this world, then I'd be hiding in my house forever," Jane said.  
  
"So it's a portal?" Tony asked, deciding to keep quiet about her comment regarding portals to other worlds, because he knew there were more, especially after New York. He just hoped that whatever this portal was, it was nowhere near that cold dark Wormhole the Chitauri had used.  
  
Jane nodded excitedly and she walked on ahead, her fast pace showing just how excited she was.  
  
Tony followed her into the abandoned factory, his eyes taking in the different stages of rust on the steel pipes as well as the cracks on the walls. "No one's been in here in a while."  
  
"Oh there are. Kids, they come here to play sometimes," Jane said to Tony as they reached the stairs. "It's safe, won't break, there were six of us here last time, with the kids," Jane commented as she walked up the steps without looking back.  
  
"Do you have eyes behind your head that Thor needs to know about?" Tony asked as he still eyed the rickety stairs with a look of distrust.  
  
He got a hearty laugh in response.  
  
With a sigh, he took the first step, jumped on it, got a creak, but otherwise it seemed pretty sound.And only then did he take the next few steps up, following Jane. "How high are we going?"  
  
"Not a fan of heights Mr Stark?"  
  
"I'd rather have my suit on thank you, and Tony, just Tony," Tony muttered. "So how high are we going?"  
  
"Just the second floor," Jane said with another hearty chuckle as she stopped climbing and waited for Tony to get to where she was. "Come on!"  
  
"Now you sound like a whiny kid, and Thor puts up with you?"  
  
Jane just flashed him a grin. "He does more than put up with me you know."  
  
"I didn't need that information."Tony rolled his eyes. This woman was a handful, and kind of reminded him of himself, but he knew she wasn't the partying kind. Being a genius and a party boy was his own special formula.  And Jane was like a combination of his desire to learn and recklessness as well as Pepper's instinct and intuition. What a combination.   
  
Tony sighed and finally dragged his feet up to where Jane was. "Now what?" he asked.  
  
Jane grinned that grin that showed that she had something planned. She grabbed his cap and before he could react,she had already thrown it over the stairs. "Hey! That was Arma...ni?" Tony's complaints died down when he saw it disappear. "Where'd it go?"  
  
Jane's grin widened even further and she pointed up. "Wait for it... there!" And then his hat was falling from the ceiling.  
  
Tony's eyes widened and gripped the railings as he watched his hat go down again and again and again. "Amazing," he said as he grabbed his hat before it went in for another loop. He looked at it and felt it in his hand. "No deformations, no changes.... I can have it analyzed at home but initial inspections point to it being the same hat," he said with a soft whistle at the end. He looked over the edge and eyed the area his hat disappeared to. "There's no physical distortion in space either, anyone could walk into that and just wind up somewhere.... usually portals are marked by physical distortions, like tears in the fabric of reality, but this, this is amazing."  
  
When Tony looked up at Jane, she had a smug grin on her lips.  
  
"Not interested in astrophysics huh?"  
  
Tony rolled his eyes. "Not as interested as I am in mechanical engineering," he conceded."Making stuff is just in my blood, I can't stop even if I wanted to."  
  
Jane chuckled and nodded her head. "Alright alright. It's the same way with me, I just can't stop looking up at the stars and wondering what else is out there."  
  
"Your boyfriend is."  
  
Jane laughed and motioned for Tony to come down the stairs with her. "I got the readings I needed while you were oggling at the portals," she informed him as they made their way down. "We have to get to Eric, I need to show him these new readings so we can analyze it."  
  
Tony pulled out his Starkphone. "Jarv did you get that?" he asked his AI.  
  
"I did sir. Should I put it in the 'Magical Gay Colored Bridge to Crazy Town' folder?"  
  
Tony nearly tripped when Jarvis reminded him of the name he had come up for that folder. Of course, he had named it when he had seen the files from Thor and New Mexico. They all looked like crazy gods to him anyway, especially Thor's friends. "Sure, put it in there," he said as he followed Jane down the stairs.  
  
"Who are you talking to?"  
  
Tony smirked and tapped his ear when Jane turned around to ask. "Jarvis, one of a kind. Supercomputer. Only AI in the world who can think like me, and who I believe is faster at calculations than me. He's in charge of everything in the tower, from schedules, to security, the works."  
  
"Sounds like a butler to me."  
  
"He's more than that," Tony said, tone turning fond. Jarvis was a constant companion, even if he had made him, Tony considered Jarvis a friend more than anything else.  
  
"He helps out in the lab too?"  
  
"Of course, he helps out with everything, even helps Pepper run Stark Industries," Tony confirmed with Jane as they made their way down the stairs to... where was Jane going? "Jane?" Tony called as he followed her anyway.  
  
"I'll be just a sec!"  
  
Tony caught up to her and looked at the device in her hand. "Why's it doing that?" he asked as he pointed at the quivering needle. "It's not supposed to do that right?"  
  
Jane's pace picked up as she replied. "Another portal is opening up," she said excitedly.  
  
Tony's eyes widened and he began to walk faster too. "Really? Whe..."  
  
And just like that, both he and Jane seemed to have walked off the building. "Shit!" he cursed as he felt the wave of nausea wash over him. He was stumbling down something, did he step into the portal?! Because everything around him looked whoozy and strange and red and black, unlike the bland dark gray cement that surrounded the abandoned factory they were in before.  
  
"Jane!" he called, trying to find her in this madly chaotic vortex they were sucked into. But he couldn't. And he cursed himself for being so careless. Even if he was so excited, he should have been more careful. But he didn't have a lot of time to dwell on it. Because the journey through the vortex didn't last so long. It was different from the Wormhole the Tesseract had made. This was more sudden, with a stronger pull. The Wormhole before was just that, a hole, it didn't pull or push people through its gate.   
  
And before he could even move to his next thought, that was, how Thor would kill him if he got Jane injured or something, he found himself landing on solid ground, face down, his face hurting like hell.

  
"Ow..." he grumbled as he stayed there for a moment. Then he slowly tried to stand, hand rubbing his face. It felt like he had fallen face down into solid rock.  Then he heard the shuffling of feet and a pair of slender hands tugging him up to his feet. "Get up Tony, look where we are!"  
  
Oh yeah, Jane Foster, so they did fall into the portal together.  
  
Tony let her help him up and as he did, his eyes widened. Woah.... what was this place? It was and black and dark, it looked like the surface of Mars at night and he didn't know how to piece this together. "Where are we?"  
  
"Not on Earth obviously," Jane said as she tugged on his arm. "I have no idea where we are," she said softly as she led him to  one of the rocks overlooking the area they were in. "Mars maybe? Or somewhere along the Nine Realms Thor talks about?"  
  
Tony took a deep breath and shook his head. "Given the shit we've seen, I doubt this is anywhere near our solar system. This is getting too magicky for my scientific brain," Tony muttered. He looked at the piece of rock that jutted out of the ground. It was huge, like a few hundred feet high, and there was a crevice near the bottom. Ever curious, Tony came closer and looked into the small crevice. "There seems to be something moving in there, don't stick your hand in if I were you," he muttered as he stepped away from it.  
  
Jane seemed to take his warning with little or zero regard, because just after he had said it, she was up there sticking her hand into the crevice. Ever the curious scientist. Tony was about to walk away but stopped when he saw how deep Jane was sticking her hand into the crevice.  "Jane  hey, don't stick your hand in there."  
  
But it was too late. Whatever it was that Tony had seen moving in the crevice had moved up and it was already wrapping itself around Jane. It looked like liquid fire, and ugh again magic. But it looked dangerous, and it made Tony feel a bad prickle at the back of his neck. It gave him a cold feeling, similar to the blue glow from Loki's scepter. This was bad mumbo jumbo again.   
  
The red liquid lava thing was wrapping itself around Jane and lifting her off the ground. "He..Hey!" Tony growled as he tried to grab her. But as soon as he touched the molten red thing that was wrapped around Jane, he was thrown back by such a force that he was easily blown away and landed back first on to the solid rock. Tony felt the back of his head hit solid rock and he let out a groan of pain. He blinked his eyes to clear it. He needed to help Jane. "Of all the times not to bring my suit," he muttered as he tried to get up.  
  
But by the time that he did, Jane was already lying unconscious on the floor, the red lava thing gone without a trace and they seemed to be back to the abandoned factory.  
  
"Jane?" Tony crawled over to her and gently touched her arm. He could feel that power coursing through her veins, just slightly and he winced as he imagined what kind of thing they had unearthed.  
  
He gently cradled her into his arms, careful to support the back of her head. "Hey... wake up, or Thor is gonna kill me," he murmured, shaking her gently.  
  
Thankfully, Jane stirred and she blinked at Tony. "Tony? What?"  
  
"We're back in the factory," Tony said, relief washing over his features. "Can you stand?"  
  
"Friend Stark."  
  
Despite the throbbing pain at the back of his head, Tony recognized that voice. He looked up and sure enough there was Thor, standing a few hundred feet from them. "Blondie," he said as he helped Jane to her feet. By the time she was standing, Thor had closed the distance between them and reached to hug Jane, only to be thrown back by the same force that had thrown Tony back earlier.  
  
  
"What..."

Jane looked down at her hands and then at the Thunder god who was looking at her in a bewildered manner. "Now I can't hit you for New York," she muttered with a huff.

Tony raised an eyebrow and shrugged. "I guess you didn't even call your girlfriend when you last came here. So good you really deserve a slap or two.  Now, I have a beef with you too, you're just the god I wanted to see," he nearly growled the last part. Yeah, risk his ass to tell Thor his brother was being controlled and the stupid oaf just brought him back to Asgard in chains and a gag. He had seen the files from Jarvis, and it made him sick that Thor would allow that for his own brother.

Thor looked up at them with a confused look in his eyes. It took him a moment to get up as he stared at the two and then down at his own hands. "This isn't making any sense, why can I not touch her?" he asked as he moved to stand.

Tony rolled his eyes. "She touched something she probably wasn't supposed to touch," Tony muttered as he walked over to Thor. "And I really needed to talk to you. But I guess you can't stay. Go bring her to heaven or something, then once she is better, get your ass back here and we're talking about Loki."

Thor turned his attention to Jane. "Then I shall bring her with me to Asgard," he said as he made his way closer to her but was careful not to touch her. "But, friend Stark, you're coming with us as well."

Tony lifted an eyebrow. "I'm not infected, you can touch me and I won't blow you away, except with my awesomeness."

Thor shook his head. "I'm not the only one who wants to talk to you about my brother."

Thor was surprisingly serious and calm and it was unnerving Tony. He was used to Thor being bullheaded and being more muscle than brain. "I don't think this is a invitation I can refuse is it?"

Thor shook his head. "I believe not."

Tony sighed and walked closer to the couple. "I feel like a third wheel."

Jane giggled. "You say that like you don't enjoy it. Everyone knows your reputation Tony."

And before Tony could find a response to that, Thor beamed them up, without warning, cutting of Tony's scream as they disappeared from earth. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So now we're slowly working into the Thor 2 / Aether timeline :) I will be trying to tie in all the movies between Iron Man and Thor, and those in between. 
> 
> Also, 15 chapters in, that everyone's wondering when the hell Tony and Loki are ever going to meet and talk without their lives being in danger. ^^ It's going to be soon ^^


	16. Asgard

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thor brings both Jane and Tony to Asgard. Will Tony finally be able to see Loki and find answers to his questions?
> 
> And who was the one who asked Thor to bring Tony to Asgard?

Tony finished his scream at the other end of the Bifrost.

He stumbled forwards a bit as Jane crumpled to the ground. It wasn't easy finding your footing when you weren't standing on anything just a moment before.

Thor was quickly by Jane's side but she obviously wasn't a damsel in distress. As Thor got close enough, she waved him away. "I'm fine," she insisted and tried to sand up on her own.

"You could have given us a warning you know," Tony muttered as he shook his head to clear it. "That was whoozy, like a really bad roller coaster ride. But I'd ride it again," he ended with a smirk. He was still shaky on his feet, but he could manage. 

"Me too," Jane said as she got to her feet, Thor hovering by her side worriedly as she wobbled. "I'm fine Thor, don't worry," she assured him with a smile. "I'm just shaken up, but it wont kill me."

"It has been a while since Midgardians have come through the Bifrost."

Tony and Jane both whipped around to look at the source of the voice. Tony raised an eyebrow. "Is it a costume party here everyday? And I thought you were gaudy," he said to Thor as he regarded the tall dark Asgardian wearing a full on golden armor that seemed to blend in with the rest of the golden walls that surrounded this dome they stepped into. 

"You must be the Man of Iron, and the Lady Jane," the tall Asgardian  sai.  I am Heimdall, Watcher of the Nine Realms."

"Lady Jane, I like the sound of that," Jane said, smiling now as she seemed to have already gotten over the shock of traveling via Bifrost. She walked over to Heimdall, got as close as she could without getting into his personal space and her eyes showed the marvel any human wold have when shown something Asgardian. "This is amazing!" she exclaimed as she touched the podium into which Heimdall's sword was inserted.

And Tony was as amazed as she was. But even he knew that they should be focusing on something else right now. Had to be the adult sometimes right?  "Jane, I think we should have you looked at first. The field trip can wait until we know what's wrong with you." 

Jane sighed and looked at Thor, eyes begging to let her stay here for a while. 

But Thor shook his head. ""We need to know what ails you first. We don't know what's causing this and we need to know how dangerous it is for you. It could be a power beyond your realm and ours."

Jane sighed and nodded finally. "Fine," she said, like a child who was denied candy in a candy store. 

Tony chuckled. "I feel the same. But we need to make sure you're fine first. Won't be a fun field trip if you start blowing things up because of whatever's wrong with you, " he said as cheerfully as he could and nodded at Thor. "Lead the way big guy."

*

Thor brought Jane to the healers, but Tony had opted to stay outside. It would have been awkward if the medical exam required Jane to undress.He didn't want to have the Asgardian turning jealous on him. Ok Jane was pretty, but she wasn't his type. If he hadn't met Pepper or Loki, he might have been attracted to Jane. 

Hah, Loki. Right. Attracted. 

Tony sighed. They haven't even met. Well they did, and well Loki had saved him once or twice. but what reason did he have to be attracted to him?

Well those legs that seemed to go on forever, for one. Then those eyes... and that milky white skin... 

"Damn it Tony focus," he muttered as he ran his hand through his hair and leaned back on the wall outside the room the Healers were in. The places the passed towards the castle was amazing, but curious as he was, he didn't dare go off exploring on his own. If he went around Asgard without Thor around, the Asgardians might think he was an intruder or something. And if they were as burly and as Thor, Tony wouldn' stand a chance without his suit. 

Ok so sometimes the rational part of his brain worked. 

Now he finally had a chance to speak to Thor, maybe later when he was calmer and when Jane was alright. And maybe he could speak with Loki too, to clarify things, to know what actually happened. Because hell Tony Stark never stopped unless he had the answer. But they're never really talked except for that one time in the tower. And that wasn't even a real conversaton was it? It just ended with him falling out the window. No, thrown out the window by some weird magic voodoo.

"Agh, I shouldn't have come here," he muttered as he messed up his hair. 

"Man of Iron?"

Tony nearly jumped when he heard that voice when he didn't hear footsteps at all.

Given how the Asgardians dressed, at least the ones he's seen so far from the Rainbow Bridge to the palace, they did not dress lightly. Everyone had armor on, and the women, if they didn't then they had all these trinkets that made a sound wherever they went. Everyone had a strong step, just like Thor did, even the women. They were all rather tall and robust, with full breasts and bums. Desirable, if you liked your women with a full bosom. Tony didn't. He liked breasts but he liked them slender, with long legs preferably. He could do with flat chests as long as he could hold those legs. Well to each his own. 

So given all things considered about Asgardian fashion, for someone to get so close to him without him hearing it, he was getting sloppy or he was too distracted. 

"Ah sorry, didn't hear you there," Tony muttered as he finally looked up and saw the Asgardian coming closer to him.

She was beautiful, more than any other Asgardian he saw on the way here at least. She was tall and regal, and the air around her just screamed royalty. Her hair flowed down her shoulders, her slender frame elegantly covered by silks that seemed too soft to be real. She was older than the rest he had seen, with fine lines over her forehead and around her eyes. But she was beautiful, even Tony had to give her that. She didn't look like the Asgardians he had seen on the way here, perhaps she was more slender because she was royalty?  
  
She came closer and smiled graciously at him. "Of course, I just arrived. You wouldn't have heard me."  
  
Tony's brows lifted. "Lady, unless you teleported here, I would have heard you. All those trinkets on your hand and in your hair would jingle with the slightest movement. So there's no way you just got here."

The lady let out an obviously amused chuckle. "You are as my son described you to be Man of Iron, or should I be calling you Mr. Stark seeing that you are not in your armor today?"

Son?

Tony opened his lips but his brain caught up to him and he closed it before he could say something that would get him killed in an instant here in Asgard. He cleared his throat and then tried again. "You must be Thor's mother?'

She smiled in a way that reminded Tony of Loki more than Thor and Tony took a deep breath as he put on his most cordial face. "Sorry I meant no disrespect," he said as he raised his arms up in a surrendering manner.

She looked amused, and really, reminded him of Loki more than Thor. "My son said you had no control over your tongue, not careful of words that you speak. Perhaps my son was wrong?"

"Obviously Blondie doesn't know a lot about me, I can be a ladies man if I wanted to be," Tony said, unable to let that nickname slip out. But instead of getting upset, Thor's mother smiled even more.  
  
"Thor must truly treasure you, that you can use such a nickname for him and still have your head is no easy feat."

Tony chuckled, unsure whether he should take that as a compliment or a warning to be more careful around her and Thor.

She seemed to notice his uncertainty and waved her hand dismissively. "Oh dear boy, do not trouble yourself so. You are but children here in our realm, if we lose our heads over what you speak, I believe Midgard would not exist to this day." She came closer and gestured at Tony's hand. "May I?"

Tony, being the ladies man that he was, graciously lifted his arm and let her rest her's on it. A man escorting a lady, just like in the olden days. Except, this lady towered over him by a good few inches and Tony didn't really like that. Well Pepper was slightly taller than him too, but Pepper couldn't crush him like an ant if he said something Tony Stark would say.

It was more her leading Tony really, since Tony didn't know where the hell they were going. But she made a good show of pretending that it was Tony  leading her and not the other way around. "So... Thor's mom. You must be the queen right?' Tony asked, to at least do something around them.

"Ah my manners, forgive me. I wanted to see the Midgardian that my son talks so much about so much that it must have slipped my mind. He  sometimes talk about the tales of your bravery even more than his undying love for Jane Foster you know."

"I am hardly the epitome of bravery .... ah... so Queen....?"

"Frigga, and no I do not want you calling me queen or your highness," Frigga said with a tone that was obviously not letting Tony say anything otherwise.

"Ah uh huh...ok, Frigga then," Tony said, earning him a pat on the arm from the queen.

 "Now, Sir Stark, if I may call you that, I believe we have much to talk about."  
  
"Sir Stark works, but just Tony works better ...er.. Frigga." It felt strange to be talking to the Queen goddess in such a casual manner, but Tony would have to find his way around the awkwardness of it and just do it anyway.  
  
"Tony then," Frigga corrected herself as she led Tony to the the balcony overlooking a garden. The garden looked like nothing on earth. It was a wide expanse of shrubs and trees that Tony was sure didn't grow on Earth. They were huge, and with low lying branches that were heavy with fruit. Those without fruit were standing proudly and reminded Tony of pine trees, only the shape of the leaves were wider. And then there were trees with leaves that came in shades of green that Tony didn't think even existed on earth.  
  
When Tony tore his gaze from the garden, he could see Frigga's careful gaze on him.  
  
"Sorry, not everyday I get to see something from another world. It's kind of blowing my mind that I'm actually not on Earth anymore."  
  
Frigga chuckled softly. "And I'm sure you would love to get a sample and bring it home to your laboratory in Midgard. You and Lady Jane both."  
  
Tony grinned at her and nodded. "I think you and I will get along really well."  
  
"I think so too." Then her eyes took on a faraway look as she looked over the balcony as well. "We Asgardians, we are a warrior race. A child's first plaything is a sword and shield, and his passage into adulthood is a duel, to prove that he can stand among the adults in his realm."  
  
Tony took in the change in her tone. They weren't talking about fun and games anymore. "Thinkers are always ostracized."  
  
"Even in your realm?"  
  
Tony nodded. "Smart children get labelled as nerds and are bullied by bigger stronger kids. Most give up, most break down and get inside their own shell. Others, well others make it without getting damaged in the head and they use their big brains to make sure they never get bullied again."  
  
"But smart adults get rewarded."  
  
"Smart and shrewd," Tony corrected. "I think I'm a prime example of that. I wouldn't have gotten this far just doing earth science. If I did, just that, I would probably stay working under someone else. It's not all brains, you got to have the wit to know when and where to play your cards."  
  
Tony didn't know if she got all the references he used, but she nodded all the same.  
  
"You are lucky to have been born a mortal then," Frigga said softly. "Other realms are not so... accepting of such shrewdness. Most see it as cowardice. A man who fancies a sharp tongue and wit is a lesser man than one who fancies a heavy and sharp blade."  
  
Sharp wit and a heavy weapon.  
  
Loki and Thor huh.He could deduce that much.  
  
"I don't think your son is a coward."  
  
Frigga turned her gaze back to Tony and she had a curious look in her eyes. "Go on."  
  
Tony steeled himself. It was one thing to tell Thor about it, but now he was going to tell Loki's mother about it. If Asgard had found Loki guilty and here he was, this mortal, trying to convince people that he might be innocent, which he wasn't sure about either, then he was going into a very precarious position right here.  
  
"I think your son and I are more similar than I would like to admit."  
  
"Thor is a good ..."  
  
"I'm talking about Loki."  
  
Frigga paused, studying Tony for a moment before continuing.  "Why would a hero of Midgard compare himself to a villain who wrought destruction to his realm?"  
  
"Because I'm not a hero, no matter what Thor told you about me, I'm not the type who sacrifices all for the world. I'm a selfish mortal, but I will sacrifice everything to protect what's mine." Tony took a deep breath and continued. "And besides, I owe your son my life. I know he's saved me once, maybe more, and I think he saved me a second time too. It's not right for me to just stay still while big brother Thor dragged him back to Asgard in chains and a gag."  
  
Frigga looked at Tony for a moment and then an amused smile spread across her lips. "Loki came back willingly," she said gently.  
  
"I risked my life to tell Thor about it and Point Break ignored it all and just dragged him here to... wait what?"  
  
Trust Tony to run off his mouth without really listening to what the other person was saying.  
  
Frigga placed her hand on Tony's forearm in a calming manner as she nodded. "He came back but he would not speak with anyone. That gag of which you speak, and the chains, it was his request of Thor."  
  
Tony's face must look like it had seen a ghost because Frigga caressed his arm in a gentle way, the way a mother would to calm a child.  
  
"As his mother my words fall on deaf ears. He knows I chastise him, he knows that I weigh the will of Odin as well as of Asgard for I am as much a queen as I am a mother to him,  In times like these, I would want for him to have a friend to speak to him, someone who would not judge him for his mistakes, someone to just listen. But he has none of those here in Asgard. And I fear he has none of those in all the realms."  
  
A friend huh?  
  
And slowly Thor's words slowly came back to Tony. "It was you, you were the one who asked Thor to bring me here," he said as he connected the dots.  
  
She smiled at him again and Tony sighed softly. "I'm not exactly his friend. And if it's pep talk you want, I'm the worst candidate."  
  
A friend. He couldn't really tell Loki's mother about the circumstances of their meeting. Nope, not at all. There was no way he was going to tell her that her own son had made a plaything of him just because he was fascinated.  
  
And damn she looked hopeful. How could Tony say no when this goddess queen was looking at him with such hopeful eyes. "Alright," he muttered as he took a deep breath. "But only because I owe him my life, I think."  
  
He hasn't seen the footage from New York, no, because that would just worsen his nightmares. But with all the calculations he had been running with Jarvis, it would have been impossible for him to fall back through the wormhole without any interference whatsoever. And  unless Captain Spangles suddenly had a new power, then the only one capable of interfering then would have been Loki.   
  
Frigga looked ecstatic, and immediately had her arm around his once more and the queen was once more leading him through the halls. "Just think that you now have both the heir and the queen of Asgard owing you a debt of gratitude."  
  
Tony groaned. Like mother like son, and he wasn't referring to Thor.  
  
\--  
  
Loki was locked up in the dungeons, Frigga had explained to Tony. But, again, this was his own request. He had also requested permission to create a barrier around the cell to seal his own magic to top off the normal cell walls. Frigga herself did not understand why her son would want to seal his own magic, and to seal his words, which were two of his greatest assets.  
  
It seemed that Tony was not the only one who was confused about the god's actions. Even his own mother didn't really know what he was doing.  
  
The dungeons were not a pretty place. Compared to the golden and dazzling city of Asgard, the dungeons were the complete opposite. It was dark and damp and just plainly depressing. Tony had no idea why Loki, big diva that he was, would want to stay locked up in here instead of somewhere else.  
  
And Tony had expected more guards, given that this was supposed to be a prison for beings with inhuman strength and capabilities. But no, aside from the two guards at the entrance, there was no one else inside.  
  
Of course, magic.  
  
How else could they keep such a prison in order with only a handful of guards guarding the gates?  
  
The guards had eyed Tony warily. They must already be sizing him up, and Tony could imagine what they were thinking. Puny mortal. But the queen still had her arm around his, and Tony held his head high. Even among gods, why wouldn't Tony Stark hold his head high? He was with the queen after all. No, slash that, the queen WANTED him here. Well to speak with her wayward son, but still SHE had him come here.  
  
"My queen," both guards greeted her as they parted to let them through.  
  
Frigga nodded at them and led Tony inside. "They're not worried that we're busting Loki out?" Tony whispered to Frigga.  
  
"Oh hush. If I could I would have. Remember that I am both a queen and a mother, as much as I want to give my son freedom, I cannot," she said the last part with a sad tone, but recovered quickly. "I come here almost everyday. They are used to my presence."  
  
Tony nodded and followed her inside.  
  
The dungeons was a huge spacious area. There were rows and rows of seemingly endless paths with gold frosted cells on each side. Tony didn't want to guess how many prisoners there were in here.  
  
"We're not going there," Frigga said softly as she maneuvered Tony away from the rows of cells, if you could call them cells because they were really big and spacious as an apartment. And that golden frost thing, he wouldn't be surprised if that was magic again.  
  
Magic land used magic, he just had to drill that bit of information into his brain.  
  
She led Tony down to a singular cell. This one was in a secluded corner, and one that was not so far from the gates. Either it was a special cell for special prisoners, or someone just hastily put it together because they had no space, or no one really expected to ever hold Loki in here. It also didn't look like a cell, it looked more like a room. It had  a bed, a table, some chairs (why one person would need so many Tony would never know), and a shelf lined with books.  
  
The cell didn't have neighbors. It was solitary, and surrounded on all sides by that golden frosted wall.  Tony looked at Frigga and the queen nodded. "He requested to be solitary as well," she said in a hushed whisper.  
  
"That doesn't make sense," Tony muttered.  
  
"I've known him all his life and it doesn't make sense to me either," Frigga told him.  
  
Tony sighed and asked. "By a long shot, Thor doesn't know what he's up to either does he?"  
  
Frigga rolled her eyes at that. "Thor falls for his tricks the most."  
  
"I take that as a no."  
  
And Tony would have said more except that their conversation had been cut off, by the sound of something dropping on to the floor.  
  
Tony looked up, and sure enough Loki had seen them. His piercing emerald eyes were wide with surprise as he took in Tony's form. Tony felt those eyes move up and down, looking at him from head to toe, as if studying him. Then they closed and Loki moved from the bed to pick up the book he had dropped.  
  
Frigga sighed and pulled Tony along with her to the cell. "That's the most reaction we could get from him. All he does is nod and shake his head and I wonder if my darling son has become mute."  
  
Loki heard that and he rolled his eyes at her. Though Tony didn't miss the fond look he sent her way even if it was brief.  
  
Frigga brought Tony close to the cell and she passed her hand through the barrier. "You and I can walk in and out of it," she said. "But just us. Thor and my husband, as well as the rest of Asgard cannot."  
  
Tony raised an eyebrow. "He is letting me in?"  
  
He heard a muffled huff from Loki but ignored it.  
  
"Not him, I did.I requested to be the one put in charge of his cell as well as who comes in or out of it, that was my only request of Odin. Loki created his magical barrier, I wove the physical one."  
  
The way she said request made Tony wonder if she twisted Odin's arm to get her way. Wives. They always had their way.  
  
"Besides, Odin cannot weave magic like me or Loki. If I weave it, he'd be hard pressed to find another to break it," she said. This time the pride in her voice was more obvious than before. So Loki wasn't the only magician in the family.  
  
"I see that Loki didn't only inherit your looks, but your talent as well. You passed on good genes."  
  
Something flashed through Frigga's eyes as she turned to look at Loki and mother and son shared a look before Frigga turned back to Tony. "Stay here for as long as you like. Thor is busy so he will not bother you. I will come back for you tonight, if you desire to leave before I come, just inform the guards, they know where to find me."  
  
  
Tony nodded and ignored the look from earlier. He would have to ask Frigga about that later on, that was if Loki didn't strangle him or bore him to death with silence.  
  
Frigga smiled at him. "Be good Loki," she reminded and then walked away. Her steps light but the sound of trinkets or the absence of it telling Tony the exact moment she had left them alone.  
  
Tony sighed and took a deep breath. "Well here goes nothing," he said as he stepped through the barrier, and he felt a slight chill as soon as he did. It wasn't fear or any of the sort. It was just physically colder here than outside. "Woah, talk about blasting the air conditioning," he said as he stepped closer to the bed where Loki was reading his book.  
  
"What? No hello? No what are you doing here you foolish mortal?" Tony asked as he regarded Loki's form. He seemed relaxed, leaning back on his bed, book cradled in his hands.

When Loki remained silent and kept his eyes on his book, Tony let out a loud huff and walked over to one of the chairs at the edge of the cell and dragged it rather noisily across the floor. It was so loud that it echoed inside the silent room.  
  
He dragged it along the floor as slowly as he could, making as much sound as possible. Until finally Loki slammed his book shut and turned to glare at Tony.  
  
Tony smirked. "Good, you finally looked at me Reindeer Games," he said smugly as he finally lifted the chair and put it down beside the bed. He sat down and looked at the god who was still glaring at him. "We have a lot to talk about you know. Not fair that you're suddenly turning all mute on everyone."  
  
Loki's glared had softened just slightly but he was still glaring.  
  
"We have a saying on earth that if bad little boys keep glaring, their eyes will fall out."  
  
Loki rolled his eyes at that comment.  
  
"And if they always roll their eyes, then it will roll allll the way to the back so little boys can't see anymore," Tony added with a smirk.  
  
And immediately Loki's glare came back at full force. Tony could almost imagine the annoyed voice telling him that he was stupid and foolish.  
  
"You know, if you would just speak, you could tell me to shut up."  
  
Loki sighed and leaned back on to his bed, placing the book he was reading on the bedside table. He looked at Tony for a moment, as if considering something. Then, after a few minutes of tense silence, he finally reached out for a piece of pen and paper that was placed beside the book. It looked like a pencil, fancy and golden and all that shit, but a pencil. Didn't they use pens here in Asgard?  
  
"No pens huh? And who's the inferior race?"  
  
For that he got a slap on his thigh and Tony winced. Magic sealed or not Loki was strong.That slap would bruise later. In fact if he wanted to kill him, he still could strangle him to death and no one would hear him. He could kill him before he got past the barrier. Wow, wasn't that a nice afterthought. Too late, he was here now. Might as well try not to die so quickly.  
  
When Tony was done musing, he realized that Loki had scribbled something on the piece of paper. Paper that looked like ancient parchment. Was it all backwards in this city? Magic was advanced as shit, but everything else was like a trip back to the middle ages.  
  
The scribbles looked like tiny drawings. And beside them two numbers, an ordinal number on the left, and  an alphanumeric one on the right.  
  
Then Loki bent his head forward and motioned Tony to come closer. Curious, Tony did come closer. And when he did, Loki grabbed his hand and placed it on the back of the gag that was keeping his lips sealed. Tony frowned and looked closer. He saw the runes, markings that were similar to the ones that Loki drew.  
  
"Ok..." Tony pressed them the correct number of times and in the right order. Except the last one, which looked similar to another, and before Tony's very eyes, the runes rearranged themselves on the lock and he definitely heard a sigh from Loki.  
  
"Hey! First timer here! Your freaking language isn't easy to read you know!" Tony muttered as he tried again, getting it all right this time and the gag simple undid itself and fell off from Loki's face.  
  
"These are runes Stark. Not our language," the god's voice finally came out, rough and hoarse, after weeks of not using it, just like Tony's did a few weeks ago.  
  
Tony's lips curved into a smug smile as he heard the god speak. He then sat back down on the chair beside the bed. "Good to have you back Reindeer Games."  
  


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry this took so long. Event preparation and the World Cosplay Summit is coming up so all my weekends are fully booked, plus work on the weekdays OTL.
> 
> Rest assured, I already wrote until chapter 20, just that they haven't been edited. So it may take a while. But I am doing my best! 
> 
> I hope you guys like this chapter :)


	17. Conversation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now that the gag has come off, will Tony and Loki finally engage in conversation?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all let me apologize for the lack of updates the past few weeks. Work has been hectic, we have a worldwide contest and there are only three people in my division, then World Cosplay Summit happened, and then there's Comiket this weekend >..

  
Tony finally got a good look at Loki. The god was thin to begin with, but he looked even more gaunt than he did back during the invasion. It looked like he hadn't been eating, and with the dark circles under his eyes Tony could only safely assume that he wasn't getting enough sleep either. And tony refused to think that he looked like this without his leather and golden armor.  
  
Even his skin looked paler. Still the pale white that he remembered, but a bit more on the sickly side, like somoene who had not seen the sun in years. The dark green shirt he was wearing now, and the black pants looked slightly out of place among the wardrobe he had seen in Asgard. It was like Loki had grabbed something before he came back home. The dark colors and the white floor and ceiling of his prison cell only made his skin look worse.  
  
But above all else, the god looked tired. His eyes were back to green, but they didn't hold the same fire that Tony had seen before in his tower. Loki had been playing with him back then, but at least his eyes seemed more alive.  
  
The glare from earlier was but a fraction of Loki's intensity from back then.   
  
Now that the gag had been removed, the silence between them was becoming unbearable, and awkward as shit, considering what Loki had been doing to him before when he was still Ton's invisible visitor.  
  
Tony cleared his throat and looked at the god, who was looking at him as well with a tired look in his eyes.  
  
"So... your mom brought me here."  
  
"I figured," Loki said.  
  
"She thought I could make you speak."  
  
"Congratulations."  
  
Now it was Tony's turn to roll his eyes. "I don't get you.  You were my enemy. You go do your bad thing, we stop you, you get to rot in prison, and everyone goes away happy."  
  
Loki raised a delicate eyebrow. "I don't see the difference," he said as he motioned around the room. "I am powerless and unable to reach anyone else. And if you hadn't removed this contraption, even my lies would not reach or influence any other."  
  
Tony narrowed his eyes at the god. "That's the problem. You want to be here, you chose this and you look tired as shit, and I know there's something wrong. Which bugs my conscience so damn much because I owe you my life, and I can't let you rot in jail when you're innocent."  
  
Loki's eyebrow remained raised. " You don't owe me anything."  
  
"You healed me."  
  
"You wouldn't have died from that wound even without a spell to protect you."  
  
"You pulled me out of the Void."  
  
Loki paused just a fraction of a second but Tony caught it anyway. "What makes you think I had a hand in that?"  
  
"Space, no gravity, no oxygen," Tony said simply. Without gravity, he wouldn't have fallen through, and without oxygen, he wouldn't have stayed conscious enough to maneuver back to the hole ."And Point Break is all muscle, he couldn't make a spell that could pull me out without popping the veins in those biceps of his."  
  
And it delighted Tony, that despite the tiredness in Loki's features, the corners of his lips turned up into a small smile.     
  
"You thoroughly insult Thor even though he considers you a brother in arms."  
  
Tony smirked. "All the time."  
  
"I wonder why you still have your head."  
  
"Your mother asked me the same question." Tony smirked and leaned back on his chair. "So... what is this? Seriously Rudolph. I risked my life to tell Blondie about you and yet you still come to Asgard in chains, and what's with the gag? Fetish?"  
  
"What I do is none of your concern."  
  
But Tony would not back down. "Your mother told me that you asked it of Thor, the chains, the gag, even this. Why?"  
  
"Insufferable child." Loki paused and took a deep breath. He reached up and caressed his cheeks and moved his lips to stretch his jaws. "Did Thor not tell you anything about me?"  
  
Tony hated how quickly Loki's bad mood could change the air of conversation. But at least he was talking right? And he wasn't killing Tony, so that amounted to something right?  
  
"Before your brother disappeared, we fought in the forest, and then I talked to him to get him to talk to you." Tony paused and thought about it. "I guess that's it. I think our conversation at the tower was longer than all my conversations with Thor."  
  
Loki sighed. "So he never told you."  
  
"Told me what?"  
  
Loki looked at Tony and raised his eyebrow once more. "Do we look anything alike to you Stark?"  
  
Tony didn't even think twice before responding with a "Hell no." He rubbed his chin and thought about it in more detail. Then came up with, "You two are like heaven and earth, that far apart. Physically, no resemblance whatsoever. He's tan, you're pale. He's got the whole barbie look blonde hair blue eyes kind of thing. While you're like not even related to barbie, slick black hair and green eyes. He's loud, muscly and all ra ra ra fight and doesn't seem capable of doing any magic without that hammer, while you are of a much slender build and your ways are far more appealing to me than his. It's like you two aren't even related." Tony paused when he saw the look that crossed Loki's eyes.  
Oh crap. "Bingo?"  
  
"I know not what that word means Stark, but if it means an affirmative then yes, you are correct. We are not related by blood."  
  
Tony stared at Loki for a good few seconds as the information sunk in. But then, before he could stop himself again, he asked, "So?"  
  
And again Loki raised a curious eyebrow.  
  
Tony shrugged and crossed his arms over his chest. "I don't see the big deal. Aren't you glad you don't look like him? Imagining you with blond hair and a big roided up body just makes me think of nightmares."  
  
Loki frowned slightly. "Roided?" he asked.  
  
Tony motioned over his arms, making imaginary waves over his biceps and play flexing. "Big muscles like Thor."  
  
Loki visibly shuddered.  
  
"Thought so," Tony smirked. Then, in a mellowed voice, continued, "Adopted or not, you took after your mother, and I think that's a good thing." Tony wasn't about to tell Loki about Maria Stark, or her absence in his life. But he had to somehow coax the god out of this negativity. "Your magic, she taught them to you right?"  
  
Loki nodded.  
  
"Then you're her son. Even the way you smirk looks the same. Seriously, Thor is nothing like her, so be thankful that even though you're the adopted one, you're the one that took after the obviously better half ."  
  
Again, the sides of Loki's lips turned slightly upwards and he shook his head. "You have but met Frigga for but a day and you already speak of her like you've known her for years."  
  
"I'm a good judge of character."  
  
"I've read your files," Loki deadpanned.  
  
"So?"  
  
"You do not stay with a person long enough to know her character."  
  
"Oh, you mean the girls that fawn over me?" Tony smirked. "You don't mention Pepper or Rhodey so you didn't read my files, you just got Barton to tell you what he knew about me and that's not a lot. Hawks don't have big brains."  
  
"Good aim, no brains," Loki conceded.  
  
Tony smirked and placed his hands on his thighs. "Now, well... I got you talking. Will you tell me about why you wasted the chance I gave you? Your mom told me that you asked for this," Tony said as he waved his hand around them, referring to the room and the whole solitary confinement thing.  
  
Loki sighed and shook his head. "I cannot tell you Stark. For that reason I bound my lips. Silver Tongue, if you have forgotten."  
  
"Oh I have not," Tony smirked. Invisible or not, those lips and that damn wicked tongue just made sure that Tony would never ever be satisfied with a human partner.  
  
Loki shook his head. "I have no wish to share what I know."  
  
"Even if you're innocent?"  
  
Loki nodded. "I am far from innocent Stark..."  
  
"Loki."  
  
Loki's hand flinched when that voice reached their ears, and Tony almost jumped because he had been so focused on Loki that, again, Frigga was able to sneak up on him, for the second time that same day.  
  
"Fuck, you're going to give me heart attack."  
  
And before he knew it, Loki's hand was gripping his wrist. "Careful how you speak to my mother," he hissed, again, a total 360 from the earlier atmosphere he had with Tony. Seriously, Loki was just capable of changing the atmosphere around people with the flick of his finger.  
  
"Loki," this time the queen's voice was a slightly scolding one. "He is but a child."  
  
Again with the child thing. Like mother like son really. Adopted or not.  
  
"I will not allow him to speak profanities to..."  
  
"Loki?" Frigga placed her hand on his and Loki sighed, letting go of Tony's wrist with a huff, like a scolded child.  
  
"It is wonderful to hear your voice again my son," she said gently as she smiled down at him.  
  
Loki sighed and looked at her for a moment. Tony could see the longing in his eyes, but he stopped himself before he could express it to his mother. "How long will the Man of Iron require lodging in Asgard?"  
  
Tony huffed. "Excuse me, I do not require lodging. Your mother required my glorious presence to grace Asgard."  
  
Tony saw the annoyed look that Loki threw him before the god turned back to Frigga.  
  
"He will stay here for an indefinite period of time my son. And seeing that he seems to be capable of loosening that silver tongue of yours, I think I'll bring him here every day."  
  
"Of all the insufferable... mother you cannot expect me to listen to his mindless drabbles and keep from slitting his throat?"  
  
"If you wanted to slit his throat, you would have done so when you first laid eyes on him on Midgard," Frigga countered with a knowing look in his eyes.  
  
Loki quickly shut his lips and crossed his arms, looking like a spoiled child scolded.  
  
"I am just taking Tony with me for dinner, since you seem to have no intention of having any. And I will not let a Midgardian starving to death under my watch. He will return here when you are more agreeable."  
  
Loki huffed again and crossed his arms. "Tell that servant not to bring me any sustenance. I have no appetite."  
  
Frigga sighed and took Tony's hand. "Come now Tony, let's leave the petulant child to his tantrums."  
  
"I am not petulant!"  
  
Frigga merely smiled as he pulled Tony along and out of the cell. Tony didn't resist, because woman or not, Frigga's grip was not lacking in the strength department.  
  
Tony and Frigga walked in silence, and it wasn't until they were out of the prisons, out of the gates, that Frigga finally let go of Tony's hand and she spoke to him. "I cannot thank you enough Tony Stark."  
  
Tony raised his arms as they walked together. "Don't thank me. It was bound to happen. I was just more annoying than anyone else so he ended up speaking faster."  
  
Frigga smiled. "It would have taken years, trust me. It's not the first time he's refused food water and company. I think there is something about you Tony Stark, that fascinates my son, no, both my sons, to let you speak so freely."  
  
Both her sons. Tony felt a shiver run down his spine, and it wasn't a good one, as he imagined Thor going after him like Loki. "Woah, stop right there. bad image."  
  
Frigga laughed at Tony's reaction, her laughter seemed to be one of the most beautiful sounds he's ever heard in his life.  
  
"Thor is too fond of the female form, Asgardian or Midgardian," she informed Tony. "No need to worry. My other son on the other hand...."  
  
Tony sighed. This wasn't the most comfortable conversation. Given that Loki was adopted, it was obvious the queen loved him dearly. And he was still a prince of Asgard, fallen or not. And this was Loki's mother for crying out loud. How the hell would he say that he didn't have a choice when Loki first touched him, and yet now, he craved it like no other?  
  
Frigga had a knowing glint in her eye and she smiled warmly at Tony. "Thor treasures you like a brother, a warrior that he respects. Loki seems to be fascinated by you differently."  
  
Tony shrugged. "I am a very sought after man in Midgard," Tony couldn't help but brag. Because he was wasn't he? Voted most elligible bachelor by so many magazines so many times that he had already lost count.  
  
"Yet you have reached half of your mortal life without a life companion."  
  
Tony shook his head as he looked at Frigga. There was no judgement in her voice, no pity. She was just stating a fact.  
  
"I'm eligible, doesn't mean I know how to be a good partner."  
  
"Perhaps you just haven't met the right one."  
  
Tony just shrugged to that. Perhaps.  
  
**  
  
When they reached the palace, the sun had already set, and it was begining to grow dark. Frigga moved Tony along the corridors, making sure that he didn't stop by anything for too long. Because everything fascinated him. The lights that magically filtered down from the ceilings without any wires, the candles that seemed to go on burning forever, the different Asgardian metals that adorned the hallways. Everything was a distraction, and everything was fascinating. And if Frigga didn't maneuver him through, they would never reach the dining hall at all.  
  
The dining hall was huge. It was brightly lit, again by light that seemed to come from the ceiling even if Tony could not see anything that pointed to electricity or a light bulb.  
  
"Damn magic," he muttered even as his eyes swept through everything in wonder.  
  
"And you wonder why I would not let you pass through the city. You would be stuck there for days," Frigga said in a slightly teasing tone as she ushered Tony into the huge room.  
The largeness of the room was magnified by the fact that it was empty but for one large blond Asgardian prince munching on food all alone on the table.  
  
"Point Break?"  
  
At Tony's mention of his nickname, Thor quickly looks up and stands, leaving his food. But Frigga's brisk steps bring her close to her son before he could even take a few steps from the table. "We will dine with you Thor," she said.  
  
"Where's Jane?" Tony asked as he walked up to them. At his question, Thor's brows furrowed and he sat back down again. Frigga did the same and the queen motioned for Tony to sit as well.  
  
Thor looked at Tony and then to his mother and then down to his food. "Father wishes to keep her isolated. He says that what she has inside of her is too dangerous to be left unguarded."  
  
Frigga sighed and placed her hand on Thor's. "You disagree with your father?"  
  
Thor hesitated and Tony could spot his jaw tightening. There was no way he could lie to his mother. "Yes," he muttered grimly.  
  
Instead of being cross, Frigga sighed and patted his hand. "Thor, I understand," she said and Thor lifted his eyes to look at hers.  
  
Puppy dog.  
  
Thor looked like a kicked puppy dog with his mother. And now Tony would never get that image out of his head.  
  
"Your father is often rash when it comes to protecting this realm. I will speak with him tonight so your Lady Jane will not be so lonely. For now, we must eat," she said as she finally turned back to Tony. "I hope you have not forgotten that your friend is also here with us?"  
  
Thor looked at Tony and hung his head. "I apologize Friend Stark, I was too focused on..."  
  
"Hey," Tony cut him off quickly. "You go do your thing and I'll do mine. No need to apologize Point Break. How is she doing anyway?"  
  
"She was stable when Father took her from the healers," Thor said and Tony offered him an encouraging smile.  
  
"Then that's good right? Reason to celebrate, yey." And Tony swiftly took one goblet that was placed close to the plates and took a swig.  
  
Or at least tried to, because Frigga just took it away from him just as quickly. "Too potent," she said in response to his surprised look.  
  
"Huh, so no beer? I'm not gonna survive here," Tony muttered. He instead grabbed whatever meat it was prepared before them, and took a flew slices ot his plate. IT looked like roast beef, but he was sure there was no beef in this realm. "So what was wrong with her? Did the healers take out what it was that we saw?"  
  
Thor shook his head. "I'm afraid it is not that simple friend. What ails the Lady Jane is something that no Midgardian should ever have to encounter.  
  
Tony paused as he brought a slice of steak, was it even beef, to his lips. But he did so anyway. "So... is it another alien thing? A disease that we have to watch out for?"  
  
"Nay,my friend. You and her have stumbled upon the Aether."  
  
Tony saw Frigga tense. Was it that bad that even the queen with crazy magic and swarms of warriors at her beck and call was tensing up?  
  
"It cannot be," she said, voice hushed.  
  
Thor shook his head and his hand squeezed the goblet before him. "Father said it himself mother. There is no mistake."  
  
Frigga took a deep breath and made to stand. "Then it is worse to have her isolated. I will speak with your father now Thor. Show your friend his quarters after you've finished your dinner."  
 Her words were clipped, and even Tony could see the tension in her posture that wasn't there before.  
  
Thor saw it too, and he nodded, without questioning his mother.  
Tony took a deep breath and shoved another slice of steak into his mouth. And it was only when Frigga's steps had left them completely did Tony begin to talk again.  
  
"Knew it, she didn't sneak up on me, it was all magic," he muttered as he grabbed the remaining goblet closest to him and drank it down. This was just water, as Frigga had made sure that the mead and other alcoholic goblets were kept far from the mortal.  
  
"So, what's the deal with this Aether thing?" Tony asked Thor as he swallowed his food. "Is it a disease?"  
  
Thor shook his head, face grim again. "It is similar to the Tesseract, I know of its power, but I know not of its workings as much as my brother does."  
  
Tony paused his eating. "Loki?"  
  
"Aye," Thor said with a grim look. "Yet he refuses to talk, refuses to open his lips when they are needed. He uses them to spread his lies and deceit and yet when his words would contain wisdom, they are contained."  
  
"Hey... Point Break, calm down. Why would Loki know more about this than you? Weren't you two raised together?"  
  
Thor sighed and shook his head. "We were. But Seiðr was never my strength, nor did it hold my interest. I didn't have the gift nor the desire to wield it?"  
  
"Se ... se what?"  
  
"Seiðr," Thor repeated. "It's what you call... magic in your realm. Yet it is more than that, that at least I know."  
  
"Ah hocus pocus then. So you never learned it?"  
  
Thor shook his head. "I refused to listen whenever mother speaks of it, I never took her lessons seriously," he said with a hint of regret in his voice. "Because of it I can't even help my Lady Jane."  
  
Tony sighed and reached out to put his hand on Thor's arm, trying to comfort the big guy. "But you said that your mom knows this stuff right?"  
  
Thor nodded.  
  
"Then, we won't have a problem because she's gonna be there to make sure your girlfriend stays safe from this ... this Ether thing."  
  
Finally, a trace of a smile formed on the Thunderer's lips. "I thank you for your wise words Friend Stark."  
  
Tony smirked smugly. "Of course."  
  
*  
  
The rest of dinner was spent in relative silence, as both god and mortal were lost in their thoughts. Frigga didn't come back to collect him, and Tony didn't want to pester her. What he and Jane had stumbled upon seemed to be something big, something way out of their league.  
  
It wasn't often that Tony Stark admitted that something was out of his league, but this was aliens and powers beyond imagination they were talking about here. If it was anything like the Tesseract, then Tony wanted it to be as far away from Earth as he could. He didn't want another New York.  
  
  
Thor had brought Tony to his room right after dinner, and as much as Tony enjoyed the blonde god's presence, a sulky, brooding, thinking Thor wasn't much good company. So Tony settled into his room as soon as the door had closed and he was left to his own devices. He hadn't been allowed to roam the city or even inspect a portion of the palace for an extended period of time. But now in this room, he could inspect it all he wanted right?  
  
He rubbed his hands together as he thought up a mental list of things he needed to do.  
  
First, he had to inspect the materials, the metals more specifically.  
  
The room was far from simple, it was decked with furniture that was blasted with gold and silver and more that Tony didn't really recognize. How wonderful it would be to just have Jarvis here and analyze everything. How much more wonderful it would be if he could just take these precious metals home. But it probably wouldn't be a nice gesture to disassemble his room right?  
  
Well maybe not too much, Tony grinned as he looked around the room and took note of the metals he wanted to chip off and take home. He would stuff them in his pockets if he had to.  
  
Second, there was that issue he had with the light from the ceiling. There was no obvious electrical circuit, so he had to find a way to get up there and look for a way to pick at the light source.  
  
Third, those candles. He had one on the desk in his room, but he wanted to take it home too, and maybe recreate it on Earth.  
  
Fourth, traditional but, there were books on the shelf close to the desk with the ever burning candle. He could take a look at those and learn what he could in his limited time here in Fairyland beyond the Gay bridge.  
  
"Time to get to work," he said, with that crazy grin on his lips whenever he had a really crazy (either really good or really bad) idea.  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooo yeah. The void theory was also borrowed from Everything Wrong With from Youtube, because yeah gravity and space don't really come together. 
> 
> Also, I realized as I watched the movie again, that Tony joined the team on the Helicarrier after they all talked about Loki being adopted. So I added that bit in here too.


	18. Aether

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Progressing through the Aether arc, how much would Tony's presence change events? And now Malekith is coming after it, how would Tony and the rest of the Asgardians protect their own?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I really need a beta. I write these chapters so quickly (draft wise I am almost done with the Aether Arc) but this gives me less time to go back and edit before posting. so, at the moment, without a beta, I would like to thank all of you for bearing with my slow updates.
> 
> This was also made slower because I went back home to my country for my brother's wedding this weekend. And you know how wedding preps get, no rest for everyone hahahah.

Version:1.0 StartHTML:0000000105 EndHTML:0000074856 StartFragment:0000002763 EndFragment:0000074820

 

 Loki had been brought dinner, despite his earlier insistence that he would not partake of his evening meal. Without checking the time, he knew without a doubt that it was well past dinner time.

So maybe his mother had a change of heart and decided to send him food after all, given how late it was. He didn't even acknowledge the presence of the servant girl who brought the damn plate. It was going to rot in here because he had no interest in food.

It's not that he refused to eat. It was just he had so many things he was worrying about, thinking about, that he had no appetite to eat.

"Leave it," he said, not looking up from the book he was reading. He expected to hear the quiet clink of the plate on the table and the quick ruffling of clothes that signalled the servant's departure from his cell. As was usual. This wasn't the first time Frigga sent him food despite his wishes.

He waited. And waited. And after a few seconds of not hearing the usual sound, he frowned and made a waving motion with his hand. "I said leave it," he repeated himself.

 Again, no sound. Thinking that this servant was really trying his patience, he slammed his book shut and looked up, lips open to start threatening the poor soul.

Until he saw who it was who brought him dinner and the sight of him just... Lokicouldn't help but let a full blown smirk grace his lips.

 It was Stark. Of all the beings in Asgard... this tiny mortal had taken it upon himself to bring a big plate, full of meat and a huge goblet that perhaps contained mead or water, and had three huge books under his arm, and one tucked beneath his neck. He looked like a mess. His formerly (just this afternoon) clean gray shirt now completely covered in dust and dirt. His hair, was sticking out in a lot of places, and his face, it was the filthiest Loki has ever seen it. But his eyes were sparkling. lt with a strange kind of light, like a child given a toy that fascinated him beyond anything.

 Loki schooled his expression quickly even as his eyes looked Tony over. "You look filthy," he said. Despite his best efforts, his amusement leaked through his voice. This mortal really really was a fascinating one.

Stark smirked as well. "Thought you'd never look up Rudolph. So.... I'd still be able to pass through this magic barrier without the queen with me right?"

 Ah so that was why he didn't just barge in. Loki waved his hand and shrugged.

 Stark smiled, taking that as a yes and then stepped into the cell again. He was half running and half speed walking, drops of water dripping from the goblet in his haste.

 "Tsk, filthy," Loki muttered as he eyed the drops of water on the floor with obvious disdain. This mortal was not schooled in manners obviously.

 "Ignore it, I have better things," Stark said in his excited voice as he dropped the plate on Loki's bedside table and put the goblet there as well. "Brought food," he said as he took the books and placed them on his lap.

 "Did you not hear what I said earlier Stark? I will not...."

 "Then don't, don't care, just thought you were hungry."

 Loki raised an eyebrow. This mortal did not force him to eat. So he wasn't sent here by Frigga? Did he come here of his own will? This mortal really did not fail to amuse him. Such an interesting little thing. "If not by Frigga's bidding, why have you come?"

 "Glad you asked," Stark said as he tapped the books on his lap. "You have got to teach me this... this hocus pocus thing."

 Loki raised an eyebrow, not understanding the reference.

 "Se... whachamacallit.. Seidur?" Stark asked, trying as much as he could to say it as he remembered Thor say it.

 Loki blinked, then, before he could stop himself, a soft chuckle left his lips. "Thor, you heard it from Thor did you not?" Because no one else mispronounces that word in that way except for that big blond oaf.

 "Did I just mangle another language?"

 Loki nodded and grabbed the book that was on Stark's lap. "Never ask Thor for advise regarding Seiðr, not the words and not its workings. It's like.... asking him to tell you about Midgardian technology and science. He does not understand it yet he talks about it in great detail and confidence, unknowingly murdering languages and theories in his path without his knowledge. Like a Bilgesnipe."

 "Like a what? But yea ok noted. So it was good that I came to you," Stark concluded as he looked on excitedly at the book in Loki's hand. "Sooooo tell me about that."

 Loki felt a slight warmth when Stark said that. To come to him, for advise? No one ever did that... well Thor did sometimes, when he was put in a tight position. Loki was always the last resort for the blundering idiot. To be consulted, even by a Midgardian, it was something that just didn't happen.And it made Loki's heart swell and warm in ways that no one had ever done before.

 Of course he's had one too many flings. But usually they were enamored with the thought of bedding a prince. He's had his turn in courts all across the realms as well. But all of Asgard, nay, the Nine Realms, regarded him as a trickster god, the god of lies... what good would trusting him do? And so all his knowledge, his vast knowledge of the Nine Realms stayed only as his, as no one ever deemed him worthy of counsel. And if he did give counsel, his words were never taken seriously.

 He sighed as he tried to clear his thoughts and then looked at the book he had plucked from the mortal. Upon seeing the title, his eyes widened just slightly and he opened the book, flipping through its pages in silence. When he had flipped way past the middle part of the book, he finally spoke again. "You do not even understand the language, why did you pick out these three books?"

 "Gut feel, and the drawings somehow correspond to my theories." There was no hiding the excitement in the mortal's voice.

 "Theories? Regarding Seiðr induced light?"

 Stark's smile widened. "Got it right then," he said, looking smug and proud of himself.

 And in Loki's opinion, he had every reason to be proud. This language was not easy to deduce and given that god awful pronunciation earlier, Stark did not understand nor recognize Aesir language. And the Midgardian had just arrived. To have deduced that this was connected to light magic at all was a great feat in Loki's opinion.But Loki never gave his praises easily.

 "This is too advanced for Midgardians Stark," Loki told him as he used his long delicate fingers to move through the pages instead of flipping though the book.

 "I don't think anything is too advanced for this big brain of mine. Hit me. I want to know how that's done, because, imagine how much energy that would cut! It would solve like half the Earth's problems with energy!"

 It was really just basic Seiðr weaving, easy enough for Aesir children. But for Midgardians who couldn't even see the threads of Seiðr, it was an impossible task.

 "Stark," Loki said as he looked at the expectant mortal. "You can't even see the threads, how can you weave something you cannot see?"

 "Say what?"

 Loki sighed again and pointed at a drawing in the book. "Seiðr, it is not something that you just drag out of nothing. It is weaving different strands, different threads that exist around us." He pointed at an image where different colored strands were being held by a hand. "Like this for example, the light spell that you wish to learn. It is by weaving these threads in an exact manner that you could produce light that is used in the palace." Loki flipped twenty pages and showed Stark another picture, this time with a much larger amount of the blue threads compared to the others. "This type of light would be blinding, enough to shield you from enemy eyes."

 By now Stark had leaned in closer to Loki so he could see the pictures better. And Loki was presented with a look that resembled the one when he first laid eyes on the Midgardian back when all this first started. Brows furrowed, eyes focused and full of curiosity, wonder and interest.Eyes that reflected the inner workings of his mind, a fascinating mind that processed information like no other. These were the eyes that made Loki take a different step in his plan, to touch this mortal when his plan did not require it.

 And now he was presented with it again. This time, without any shrouding on Loki's part. Loki was not hiding and the mortal knew full well it was him. Yet the mortal was here, in his cell, with him, asking him a question and eager to learn.

He was here in Loki's cell not because Frigga made him come. He came because he wanted to be here.

 Even in his twice be damned filthy state, Loki couldn't help but want to stare longer at this mortal that fascinated him like no other before him.

 "So it's like adding different elements, adding a different number creates a totally different end product. Like chemistry," Stark's voice broke through his thoughts.

 "I know not of this chemistry you speak of..."

 "Alchemy?"

 Loki thought for a while and then nodded. "Similar, if that makes it easier to understand."

 Tony moved back and scratched his head, brows furrowed further as he took in this information. "It's harder to process something that you can't see."

 "The word you're looking for Stark is impossible."

 Stark shook his head. Ever the stubborn Midgardian. "I don't take impossible. I can do it, find a way around it if I have to."

 Resilient. Stubborn. Intelligent. It was delightful watching him think. Now Loki was no longer regretting he removed his gag. It was one thing to be afraid of talking about the Mad Titan, to drag others into this hell he had dug for himself. But this relaxed atmosphere with Tony Stark couldn't be achieved with silence. And it seemed to be worth the risk.

 "Well I cannot help you as Frigga already mentioned, I cannot weave my spells inside this cell," Loki reminded him.

 Stark huffed. "Then can you at least translate the damn book? I'll try to research it myself. I'll take the book home if I had to."

 The corners of Loki's lips curved upwards once more. "What do I get in return?"

 Stark's eyes raised to meet his and Loki saw his thoughts flash across those honest eyes of his.

 "Silly mortal. I have no quarrel with the Avengers. "

 "Then what would you ask for?"

 Loki smirked and closed the book. Leaning closer to Stark, he whispered in his ear, "What do you think?"

 He felt Stark's body tense, not the bad tension. He recognized this, tense but longing for something. It was really Stark's fault for being so fascinatingly delicious to watch. Loki had seen his fair share or beautiful beings in the Nine Realms, but he knew that it wasn't physical beauty that truly enamored him. Rather, it was the beauty of one's mind. And to think that this mortal, this child, would be the one to fascinate him so.

 "I...." Stark trailed off. Then he tried again. "I don't think that's a good idea," he muttered. "There's no privacy here, the guards can see...."

 Perhaps it was his fault that the Midgardian thought his interest in him only lay when they touched each other physically. He would have resigned himself to watching him work and listening to him think. But a little bit of touching never brought harm on anyone, so he indulged himself to that too. So he really couldn't blame Stark for thinking that all he wanted was sex.

 But that wasn't all he wanted from Stark was it? In the end, it was his fascinating mind, and that knowledge that his attention was all focused on Loki.

Loki pressed his finger on Stark's lips, silencing him for a moment. "Not that Stark. My bargain is for you to come here, everyday. Come with your books and your questions, and I will answer them for you."

 Tony blinked. He was obviously not expecting that. "Er... yeah ok I guess?" he said, slightly unsure, but willing to take it if it meant Loki was going to teach him.

 "And."

 "And?" Tony frowned slightly.

 "I need to borrow your cellphone."

 Tony paused, caught off guard. Then he looked at Loki again. "Are you joking with me? Messing with my head?"

 "No."

 Tony looked more confused than ever. "Why would you need my phone?"

 "Do you want to learn Seiðr or not?"

 Tony nodded.

 "Then give."

 *  

 Days soon passed, and Frigga found it harder and harder to find Tony Stark. Initially, she could glimpse him briefly at the dining halls, but he ate really quickly and left without a word. Then he stopped coming altogether. She had word from the servants that he would sometimes bring food out of the hall and it worried her if he even ate any of the things he brought out. Some days the servants weren't even sure if he brought food out of the hall. And some days even Thor didn't know where he was. 

 For the past three days, the servants were sure that he had not taken food from the hall at all. No one has seen him eat or drink, and it had Frigga worried.

 She had seen the sorry state of his room on the 3rd day of her search. She had wanted to respect his privacy as Thor had mentioned that this particular Midgardian had a tendency to lock himself in a room, refusing food or drink or even sleep in favor of a new discovery.

 But three days of no food was enough to make the queen worry. He had come here because of her invitation after all, so she didn't want him to get sick due to starvation. Such was the frailty of Midgardian bodies.

 She ignored the destroyed furniture, the chipped metals, the scratches on the floor, and the missing books on the shelves in favor of her worry for the child.

Where could he have gone?

 Frigga searched for him all day, and in the end had to consult with Heimdall, just to know that the boy was in the gardens outside the palace. Frigga went to him quickly, worried for her charge. Only to find him there, under one of the trees that Thor and Loki used to climb, with books haphazardly placed around him, with lots and lots of crumpled parchment around him.

 "Tony Stark?"

 When there was no response, Frigga walked closer called his attention again, and this time Tony gasped, hand held up to where his heart would be. "Scared me...." he muttered.

 The queen of Asgard peeked down at the books around the Midgardian. "What are you reading?"

 "Seiðr," Tony answered readily as he went back to his writings.

 "Oh?" Frigga wondered as she continued to peek. "And what about sustenance? I have not seen you at the dining hall in three days, and the servants report that you have not been taking food from the hall either."

 Tony finally finished what he was writing and finally looked back up at Frigga. "Oh I eat everyday, twice. Once in the morning and once in the evening, just not in the hall. And I can go on for days without food and water, as long as I have something to do."

 Frigga hummed in response and she took one of the books that Tony had scattered around him. She flipped through the pages and her eyes widened when she recognized the penmanship on some of the notes.

 "These are..." Frigga looks down at Tony, because these were Loki's handwriting, she'd recognize it anywhere. But It had been ages since anyone had been able to coax Loki into teaching them about Seiðr. Loki was not the most patient teacher, and yet here he was teaching a Midgardian who could not even see the threads.

 Tony grinned at her and indicated the other books around him. "Your son is a picky eater, he usually eats the greens and leaves the meat for me," Tony supplied. Frigga obviously recognized Loki's handwriting so there was nothing wrong with letting her know that he's been spending the better half of his time in the dungeons with the fallen prince. That's obviously where he had been eating all his meals as well.

 "Oh and If it's possible, I'd like to bring some of these books home to study. These are amazing er.... Frigga." It was still uncomfortable to address the queen by name. 

 "I was under the impression that Midgardians can't read our language."

 "We can't," Tony confirmed. "But I've had help." Tony smiled as he finally got up from his position on the grass and stretched. "Always hated magic, it was like an unknown, something I couldn't study, but now I can. And it's the most fascinating thing."

 Frigga smiled warmly. "It is nice to see that a warrior such as yourself can immerse himself in such studies."

 Tony shrugged and pointed at his own head, tapping his temple. "This big brain is what enabled me to become a warrior. And this, just loves to swallow up knowledge. I wasn't interested in it before because it was such a foreign concept, so far from science. But now that a small part of it has been explained, I can see how much it is similar to my science, and that's why I want to learn more and more about it." Not to mention Loki was a good teacher. Easily annoyed and impatient, but he was good at it.

 Frigga handed the book back to Tony, silent for a moment before asking, "You do not think it is ... strange? For a man to immerse in such studies?"

 Tony looked at Frigga as if she had grown another head, then he frowned just slightly. "Why should I think that it's strange? I think it's amazing."

 Frigga's gaze on Tony lingered for a moment. And then she smiled fondly. "You are a good man Tony Stark, as amazing as Thor says you are."

 Tony shrugged. "I wouldn't say that's wrong, but you didn't answer the question. Why would I think studying this Seiðr thing is strange?"

 Frigga turned to Tony's books and motioned for the mortal to fix them. Tony didn't want to, he wanted to study more. But he knew better than to say no to the queen of Asgard  who was the only reason he was here in the first place. As Tony leaned down to pick up the books and begin to pile them together, Frigga spoke again. "Thor and Odin would never learn Seiðr. For Aesir, a man who practices it is considered Ergi."

 Tony raised an eyebrow but didn't stop fixing the books."And I assume that's not a good thing."

 Frigga shook her head and then motioned for Tony to pick up his books and pens.

 "I'm not going anywhere," Tony said.

 "Yes you are, now come Tony Stark."

 Tony sighed. This woman, she may look sweet and kind and all levels of motherly. But she had a command in her voice and presence that truly fit with her title as queen of Asgard. "Alright..." he muttered and picked them up.

 "Good," Frigga said approvingly as she tugged on Tony's arm, making the mortal follow her back into the palace.

 "As for Ergi... no it is not." Frigga sighed and continued. "Seiðr was originally not of Asgard. It was brought here by the Vanir. Asgardians are more of a warrior race, and Seiðr was never considered to be powerful enough to be at par with

glorious battle. "

 "Okkkk, so Vanir? Er... and what of Ergi?" More alien names to remember for Tony Stark.

"In a race of men the size of Thor and Odin, who live for battle. Do you think they would respect another man who uses tricks and spells to get what he wants?"

 Tricks and spells. And Tony rememeberd his first conversation with Frigga.

  _Other realms are not so... accepting of such shrewdness. Most see it as cowardice. A man who fancies a sharp tongue and wit is a lesser man than one who fancies a heavy and sharp blade._

 "This was what you meant? Sharp tongue and wit, and the preference to use magic instead of weapons."

 Frigga nodded as they continued to walk inside the palace. "Cowardly, effeminate, all these things and so much more are what comprises Ergi..." she said, and Tony could sense the sadness in her tone.

 "If it was considered cowardly, why then would the queen of Asgard practice Seiðr?"

 Frigga smiled at Tony as she responded with a "Whoever said I was Asgardian by birth?"

 Tony stopped in his tracks, mouth gaping slightly. Wait what? So Frigga wasn't Aesir? Ok that explained why she was different from Thor and Odin. Why she had a grace that seemed out of place in this warrior society. Was that why she had taught Loki this magic that seemed to be so difficult for Thor to grasp? And Loki was adopted, didn't look Asgardian either, no scruffy beard and that long slender build was sinful and totally not Asgardian, hell he was more slender than the Asgardian women he had glimpsed in the palace.... maybe Loki was Vanir?

 Tony wanted to ask more questions, but Frigga had already walked on ahead, to call the attention of Thor and Jane, who were standing in the balcony overlooking the main city of Asgard.

 Damn it, like mother like son. Trust Frigga to drop a bomb and then make sure you had no way of clarifying.

 "Don't let him hear you say that," Tony heard Frigga say with a teasing tone as she approached the couple.

 Tony made a mental note to ask Frigga again about Vanir and all that jazz. He had just come to terms that there were gods in this realm. A few weeks ago, he didn't even believe in magic and gods, and  portals and aliens, and now Frigga gave him a new bone to gnaw on. There were more than just Aesir, and if he could take a guess, the Vanir would not be the last. Thor always spoke of Nine Realms, so there should be at least nine races. His head would hurt when this was over.

 Tony followed Frigga to Jane and Thor just as Thor was introducing his girlfriend to his mother.

 The Asgardian prince spotted him with his books and his voice boomed over the conversation between the girls. "Friend Stark!" he called. Ah, his mood was obviously better now that Jane was out of solitary confinement.

 "Hey Point Break, Jane," he greeted them as he hoisted the books to another arm. They were heavy and he just wanted to put them down somewhere if only they weren't so valuable.

 Jane, being ever curious, like Tony was, stepped closer and peeked at the books in his arms. "You reading these now Tony? Earth science not enough for you?" she teased.

 "Hey, I've always loved doing homework," Tony said with a smirk as he gestured to the books. "And these are mind blowing."

 "Too much studying and you will not train for battle anymore Friend Stark," Thor said with good humor as he walked up to them, Frigga by his side. "You remind me

of Loki, truly," he said, smile turning fond as he gazed at the books. "If only I was more of a brother to him in the past..."

 "Hush Thor," Frigga said as he patted his arm. "Loki made his choices and so did you. You were both destined for different paths."

 Tony sighed inwardly at the sight. Thor, for all his anger for Loki, still treasured his brother. He didn't know if Loki felt the same, but he really didn't feel much animosity from Loki during their time here in Asgard. Even when Loki mocked Thor, it was humor instead of anger that laced his voice.

 "You two are just different. Wouldn't know coz I'm an only child, but getting along with someone totally opposite is quite a headache," Tony said and left it at that. Then he turned to Jane, "When you're better, I'm showing you all my theories. It's amazing Jane."

 Jane smiled and nodded. "Why can't you show me now?"

 "Because I don't want to risk you blowing my precious notes away," Tony chuckled. It was a playful jab and Jane took it well.

 "When this Aether thing is out of me, you'll show me these ok?"

 "Sure thi...!"

 Before Tony could finish his affirmative, a loud explosion rocked the ground and all four of them looked out of the balcony to see smoke coming from the ...

 "The dungeons," Frigga said as she turned to Thor. "Go, I'll take care of them."

 Thor looked at both Tony and Jane, nodded, and then went off to fly towards the dungeons, Mjolnir in hand.

 As soon as Thor had flown off, Frigga turned to them both. "Come with me, both of you."

 Tony had a sick feeling in his stomach. An attack, here in god city. Who the hell was crazy enough to attack Asgard? "But Loki..."

 Frigga tugged on his arm now. "...will be fine." Frigga finished for him. "Now Come with me."

 Tony muttered something under his breath and followed Frigga and Jane out to the corridors. There were armed soldiers marching in the opposite direction, clad in golden armor similar to Heimdall. Did all Asgardians wear golden armor? It was so flashy that it screamed "Here I am shoot me!" in all directions.

 If Thor with his raging red cape was anything to go by, perhaps Asgardians did not understand the need for subtlety in battle.

 "Frigga."

 A deep commanding voice echoed across the halls, easily overpowering the loud clanking or armor and loud steps that accompanied the march of warriors.  Tony was torn from his thoughts and focused his attention on the man that stood before Frigga. He looked old, and reminded Tony of Nick Fury with his one eyed look. But the old man looked tall and commanding. He had so much more presence than Thor and Loki combined.

 "Husband."

 Tony's eyes widened. Oh so this was big bad daddy. That explained the presence. He had only heard a bit of Odin from Thor and damn... the old fart was old but intimidating. And Loki definitely took after Frigga, adopted or not. Thank god, or gods, for that.

 Odin's eyes gazed behind Frigga, taking in the sight of Tony and Jane.

 "Frigga, the girl..."

 "Will be with me." Frigga insisted. "I will keep her safe. Do what you must."

 Odin frowned, seeming to want to disagree. But Frigga didn't leave any room for argument.

 "Thor has already gone to the dungeons to contain the damage," Frigga informed Odin.

 Odin looked at Tony once more, his frown deepening, before turning back to Frigga. "Stay safe," he said as he turned and led his warriors to battle.

 Even as he left, Tony didn't like the way Odin's gaze lingered on him for a bit more than Jane. It was as if he was sizing him up, trying to see what this little Midgardian could do. How Tony wished he had his suit with him.

 It also unnerved him that Jane was following Frigga's orders without question.

Jane was like Tony, smart but very rebellious and didn't pause to speak their own mind. That she wasn't asking any questions was worrying.

 "What the hell is going on here?" he hissed at Jane as they both sped up their pace to follow Frigga's pace.

 And when Jane turned to him, Tony finally saw the fear in Jane's eyes. Jane was afraid, why? He frowned and asked again, "What's going on? What are you girls not telling me?"

 "It's begun," Jane whispered as they continued to walk. "He's here for me."

 "What has begun? Who's coming? And coming for what?" Tony's questions made no sense as he asked all three questions in quick succession that Jane could not interrupt him to answer.

 Jane opened her lips to speak but it was Frigga who answered for her. "She speaks of the dark elves of Svartalfheim. Now, I need you two to follow my instructions. No questions asked."

 "Yes ma'am."

 That was Jane.

 Tony, being Tony, had to open his big mouth. "Like hell I'm not gonna ask questions. What are we going against here? If we don't know what we're going against how can we fi...!"

 Frigga had stopped walking and turned around abruptly, fixing Tony with a look that only a stern mother could give. "This is out of your league Tony Stark. You don't have your suit of armor right now and you will die if you don't do as I say. Now follow my instructions and you may have a chance to live."

 Another clash of the gods then. "Yes ma'am," he finally said.

 *

 

  "No ma'am!"

 Jane rolled her eyes. "Oh for the love of God Tony stop complaining!"

 "I am not sitting in here and hiding like a scared rat!" Tony grumbled and glared at the wall in front of him. Frigga's instructions had been really simple.

 "Stay in here. Keep quiet. Don't come out."

 "Like hell!"

 "Tony! Please!" Jane said in an exasperated tone. "If I could touch you I would punch you so bad right now," she grumbled. She nervously tucked her hair behind her ear. "This is beyond us. This is way beyond us," she muttered. "What we found Tony, what we stumbled upon. This thing inside me. It's a weapon and it's powerful enough to wipe us all out of existence."

 Tony frowned as he finally calmed down enough to listen to Jane. "And who wants it?" Could this be the same one that was controlling Loki and the real master of the Chitauri?

 "They're called the dark elves, and their leader Malekith wants it. He needs it to continue to bring the Nine Realms back into darkness."

 "Continue?"

 Jane sighed and tried to remember what Odin had told her and Thor earlier. "They tried to do it before Tony, thousands of years ago. But Odin's father, the king then, he stopped him and sealed the Aether away. They thought that they had killed off all the dark elves, apparently some survived."

 Tony frowned. No this was different from the Chitauri's master. He wouldn't have attacked earth wtihout this weapon. 

 "And now he's back."

 Jane nodded. "All because of me."

 Tony shook his head. "Hey stop there. It wasn't your fault," Tony muttered. "We stepped into that portal, one that we didn't even know existed. We didn't want this. It just happened."

 "Wouldn't have happened if I wasn't sniffing around."

 "Wouldn't have happened if I didn't look for you. See how this goes? This blame game goes a long way and it's gonna keep going around. It doesn't end, like ever." Jane finally relented and sighed. "This is so screwed up Tony."

 "Welcome to my world. Your world now too, since you're dating a demigod," Tony said with a small smile to cheer her up. "Just hope he's worth it."

 "He is Tony, he is." And the fondness in her eyes didn't escape Tony. She was so happily in love with Thor. It was cute. It's just that Tony didn't believe in that anymore.

 Pepper was Pepper. He liked her and she liked him. But they would never be together. Tony had accepted that a long time ago, when he started becoming Iron Man. Pepper was sweet, she was gentle, she didn't like hurting others. There was no way Tony would drag her into this world of his. There was no way she would survive in his world.

 Pepper thrived in Stark Industries, mending the damages Tony had wrought on to his company. Pepper was like that, gentle, nurturing. She mended things that Tony broke. She made things good when Tony made it bad.  They never talked about their relationship, Tony never opened it up and she didn't either. But after New York, he had seen the fear in Pepper'S eyes. He saw her smile that empty smile that he hated so much. How she tried to be strong for him, to not show how affected she was by what happened to Tony. And he knew, he could tell, that it was destroying her. He coulnd't bring her into his world. Not Pepper.

 Then there was Loki. The god was... Tony had no word for him. Beneath the multiple layers of snobbish snark and arrogance, there was a very very intelligent and talented god inside. And he would not forget the way this all started, those talented hands and those.... Nope no Tony, not the right time to think about those.

 Tony stood up instead and leaned on to the edge of the wall, that separated him and Jane from Frigga. "I can hear footsteps," he muttered as he motioned for Jane to back away from the wall. He remained there, listening.

 But what good did listening do when he could not understand the damned language the elf was using.

 Still Tony listened. And listened.

 It was all going according to Frigga's plan maybe because the elf's voice seemed demanding but not all out crazy mad. Maybe because he was speaking with royalty?  Well whatever it was that made him calm disappeared when the fucking elf screamed bloody murder.

 And then Tony heard a second set of footsteps.No no no... two of these fucking elves in here? Frigga was a queen, and Frigga was awesome. But it took freaking Odin's father to defeat this bastard, and now Frigga was alone facing him and a henchman.

 Tony heard a sword being draw and his blood ran cold.

 There was no way, no way he could leave Frigga alone. He wasn't a hero, no. But he wasn't a bastard either who would just stand by while the mother of his friend (god or no god), was being attacked.

 So, despite his brain telling him not to do it, not to risk his life for someone he barely even knew, Tony jumped out of his hiding place and ran.At one glance, he could see that Frigga was in trouble. She was being held by one, and the other had his sword unsheathed. He didn't even have time to register how the elves looked, because he just ran towards Frigga, to help or to shield her, he didn't even have time to think about that.

 The elf advancing on her, the one with his sword drawn turned to look at Tony. And with one smooth thrust, he planted his sword deep through the Iron Man's chest.

 Tony didn't even seem to feel the pain. Of course it hurt, but he couldn't focus on it. Instead, he focused on his surroundings. He heard Frigga screaming, and a loud "Nooooo!" from outside the room. It was a booming voice, had to be Thor. Then he heard the loud cry of the elf before him as lightning scorched his face. Serves him right, sick bastard who attacked Thor's mom, two against one, two guys and one woman. And then he heard the loud clunk of Mjolnir as the hammer struck.

 Tony was quickly feeling faint. As Frigga rushed to his side, he felt himself losing consciousness. Fucking magic. He could swear that blade was enchanted or some fancy shit. He had to tell Loki about this. Because an enchanted blade was awesome.

 And that was the last thought he had before he blacked out completely.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok I'm sure everyone is wondering why I made Frigga Vanir. It's mostly because of this (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frigg_and_Freyja_origin_hypothesis) . They are different and yet share so many characteristics that some scholars believe they were derived from the same goddess orgin. So for this fanfic, Frigga and Freya will be treated as one :)


	19. Fragile

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all apologies are in order!   
> I have not abandoned this fic. However, my laptop is completely busted and I have been saving up for another unit come April of this year. So the updating is going to take forever. 
> 
> I have also changed homes and changed jobs in the past 6-8 months so things are super super hectic :( 
> 
> Please be assured that I will try to finish this as soon as I get a more stable laptop. 
> 
> The next four chapters have all already been written. But I cannot edit them properly without a proper laptop, so I will post them for the sake of those who have been waiting for more than a year for an update. Please be warned that these are basically drafts and I have no way to edit them properly. Editing on my phone might make things worse ^^;; 
> 
> I still hope you enjoy it :)

  
The past few days have been interesting for Loki, to say the least. Stark had stayed true to his word. He came every day without fail for the past days, usually from midday to late afternoon so he could sneak back in without angering his host.  
  
In the last three days, the Midgardian had just given up completely and came here before waking hours and went back to the palace when everyone was asleep.  
  
Loki had never seen such wonder from a Midgardian who had no gift in Sedor. And it was no ordinary wonder. Stark's eyes were honest indeed and they reflected his wonder and his intelligence. Loki could see that his awe was not empty.Stark was not only enamored by the concepts of Sedor, he was also doing his best and trying to understand something that his race was a few hundred years too young to grasp.  
  
Loki had had little sleep over those few days. As Stark was like a sponge, always hungry for knowledge, and if Loki didn't prepare, he found that he ran out of things to teach the Midgardian. So every night he prepared more and more things to explain. He even started taking some of the more complicated spells to challenge the Midgardian.  
  
He was truly fascinating, Loki realized. What he saw on Midgard was but a fraction of Tony Stark when he was latched on to an idea, when he had set his mind on learning. It was beautiful. And in all his years, Loki had never met a being in the nine realms that rivaled such a pure fascination for knowledge. Well except for him of course.  
  
For those days,not once was New York mentioned, nor the Chitauri, nor anything else, not even for a quick pick me up. All Stark was here for was to learn, and that impressed Loki. And somehow the god thought that it was good that his mother had brought Tony Stark into Asgard.  
  
Today, Stark had gone back to the palace earlier than usual. He said he needed to compile his notes, and Loki took the time to simplify the more complex spell weaving that Stark insisted (more like demanded) to be translated.  
  
Loki smirked as he wrote down his own notes over the faded pages. "Fascinating indeed," he whispered to himself as he paused his writing and took out Stark's phone from his bedside table.  
  
Stark didn't want to give it up, and he asked for it day by day by day. But Loki would not give it. Why would the god be interested in his invention, Stark had asked.  
  
But no, Loki was not interested in the phone at all. What he was interested in was Jarvis.  
  
It was just a curiosity in the beginning.To see whether or not leaving Midgard would affect Stark's connection to Jarvis. It seemed the Midgardian had not noticed it at all.He hadn't touched his phone since crossing the bifrost, nor did he have the earpiece he usually used when communicating with Jarvis.  
  
But Loki saw the weak glow. It was the same golden shimmer he had seen at Stark Tower. It was weak, but it was there. Loki could tell because he knew what he was looking for. And now, day by day, the longer it was exposed to the woven spells in his cell, the more the phone glowed in Loki's eyes.  
  
He could only imagine Stark's surprise if, by the end of this week, he would hear his invention's voice through dimensions.  
  
Loki was caressing the smooth screen of the phone when he he felt something was amiss. It was quiet, too quiet, like a calm before a storm. And Loki was never fond of storms. It was too noisy, to brash, it was something more fitting for Thor.  
  
He frowned slightly and put the phone away again. Then he stood from his bed and listened.  
  
Then it happened. He felt it before he heard it. The ground shook and Loki knew that one of the cell's magical barrier has been destroyed.  
  
He narrowed his eyes. Normally he would track the creature that dared to do such a thing. It was no simple feat to destroy an Asgardian barrier. But if one had great knowledge about the old ways, it was possible. His own barrier kept his own magic at bay. He had weaved the spell himself and it was effective in locking him in the cell. But the barriers around the other cells were weaved by Sedor users more powerful than he or his mother. It should have been impenetrable.  
  
Loki looked on as shouts and screams of agony began filtering through the corridors. Ah, he used his cellmate to get out then, Loki concluded as the scream was quickly drowned out by cries of freedom. And he was helping the other prisoners escape.  
  
The guards, the few that were stationed out here, were no match for this creature if he could break out of his cell. Where was Thor?  
  
"Taking forever you imbecile," he hissed as he clenched and unclenched his fist. This was bad. If all these prisoners got out, it was workable. But Loki knew better than the look at things at face value. It was too easy. There was a bigger picture, a greater plan at work here.  
  
Loki heard the sound of swords drawn and a new wave of cries filled the air. "Finally," he muttered. "And Thor still isn't here," he muttered. "Where in the Nine Realms...."  
  
Loki's mutterings came to a halt when he was approached by a prisoner. Away from the fighting and away from the chaos.  
  
Loki kept his face impassive, but his eyes were already analyzing what magic he could sense from the creature. His barrier was made to keep his own energy in, yet allow him to sense the energies outside. This way, if the Mad Titan did come for him, he could tell, even if he was inside here.  
  
This creature, this energy was rare, even in the Nine Realms, Loki realized as they maintained eye contact. The creature seemed to be sizing him up, trying to see if he was friend or enemy of Asgard. But Loki was doing the same, he was sizing him up, checking just what and how much power he had inside of him without giving himself away.  
  
Loki racked his brain. He had not felt this type of power before but he could not pinpoint what it was. It was an old power, something he had not felt or studied in a long time.  
  
Then the creature broke eye contact and turned, making its way to the entrance of the dungeon.  
  
It cannot leave here. If it got into Asgard, the city would fall to ruin. Loki didn't know what he was or what it was capable of but he knew it was powerful and that was enough to make him worry.  
  
There was only one more option. Odin's chamber. That place was heavily guarded by the einhernjar, and Odin himself would be more than enough to defeat this thing. Despite Loki's hatred for his adoptive father's deceit, he knew that age did not matter to the old Aesir. Odin was powerful, and he would deal with this.  
  
"You might want to take the stairs to the left," he said.  
  
The creature turned to look back at him, huffed, then went on its way. Loki watched its retreating back, hoping that it would indeed turn left. Because the guards were no match for it. Either Thor or Odin had to take it down. Valhalla forbid, even Sif could maybe slow it down. Again, Loki was not fond of her at all, but he recognized her skill in battle.  
  
It took a few more minutes before Thor arrived. Loki could tell because of the loud lightning strikes that took out some of the prisoners.  
  
And it took him even longer to get to Loki's cell.  
  
"Brother what ha..."  
  
"You fool! You bumbling oaf! What took you so long?!" Loki growled, bristling as he looked at the baffled expression on Thor's face. "Go to Odin's chamber, he went in that direction. Hurry."  
  
Thor stumbled backwards and nodded.  
  
"Please make it in time," Loki muttered as he stayed where he was, unable to help even if he wanted to extend a hand.  
  
*  
  
The chaos in the prisons subsided quickly after the initial explosion. Thor's band of merry warriors put the prisoners back in their cells, none batting an eyelash at Loki. For them all, he was still the traitor princeling who ascended the throne without right and brought war on Midgard.  
  
Even if he died they wouldn't care.  
  
  
But even with the false piece down here, Loki could tell that everything was not right above ground. He could tell the ground was shaking above them. He could feel the shields of the palace going up. He also felt it being destroyed, as even that was woven Sedor. "You blundering oaf, you are taking forever," he hissed to himself. What was taking Thor so long? If he had gone in the direction of the throne room, he should have passed the Shield Generator. That Shield generator held thousands upon thousands of woven Sedor that could be summoned with the push of a button to protect Asgard.  
  
If that was destroyed then Asgard would be defenseless.  
  
Loki could not sit still, he kept walking around in his cell. It had been minutes, no, almost an hour since the initial attack and still no word! What was happening up there?! Of course he was a prisoner so no guard would tell him, But Thor knew better.  
  
And Thor, he would strangle him if he saw him. That blundering...  
  
Loki's thoughts cut off when he finally saw him. Thor was walking towards his cell, face distorted in sorrow that Loki had not seen in a while.  
  
"It's about time," he hissed. "What TOOK you?!" he growled at Thor. "I pointed you in the right direction and you let them destroy the Shield Generator?"  
  
If possible, Thor looked even more troubled. "Brother..."  
  
"I am not your brother!"  
  
Thor approached the cell and shook his head. "Please brother, I need your help."  
  
Loki rolled his eyes. "What need do you have of my help? I gave you directions,I told you where he was, and yet you missed him?! How much of Asgard is damaged because you were so slow?!"  
  
"Aye...I was slow." Thor mumbled and Loki paused his ramblings.  
  
Thor never accepted his mistakes. And the more Loki shouted at him, the less he accepted. What happened in the past hour that Loki didn't know?  
  
Thor looked up at Loki finally when the younger god had quieted down. "I was not in time to save him. I was not in time... mother helped but..."  
  
Loki narrowed his eyes. "What are you talking about."  
  
Save him. Who? Odin? If Odin died, why would Thor come to him to grieve? He wouldn't. Fandral Volstagg and Hogun were all still alive and well. So that only left....  
  
Loki's eyes darkened as he realized who it was Thor was talking about. He stormed towards the barrier of the cell. "What. Happened." he asked, voice low, firm, angry. It was this type of anger that made Thor fear Loki truly. Because a crazy angry Loki was one thing and Thor could handle that, but a calm angry Loki was even more calculating and frightening and this truly scared Thor.  
  
Thor scrambled for words, he obviously did not understand why his brother had gotten angry. Having been so focused on Jane and the Aether, he obviously had no idea that Tony was going to Loki's cell for the past few days.  
  
"Mother asked them to stay back, as she used her spells to fool Malekith, but he came with another and mother was outmatched. Friend Stark he... he tried to help and Malekith attacked him instead."  
  
Loki felt his jaw clench. "The dark elves of Svartlheim," he hissed. So that was why it had been so difficult to pinpoint the nature of their power. Such an ancient race thought dead. And yet here they were. Bor and Odin, like father like son, both deceivers apparently.  
  
Loki's brows furrowed. "Malekith." Leader of that damned race. What had made him so brazen as to come to Asgard? Even if he had survived, he wouldn't risk what little remaining forces he had to attack Asgard. If he did, then he must have been truly desperate. But for what?  
  
Could it be the Tesseract? With the Aether sealed then the next most powerful thing would be another Infinity Stone.  
  
"Was he after the Tesseract?"  
  
Thor shook his head. But he looked at his brother imploringly, eyes openly begging for forgiveness and help. "Nay, he is after the Aether.... But brother, I ... I need your help truly."  
  
One surprise after another. If the Aether was unleashed, what horrors it would bring especially in the hands of Malekith who had spent thousands of years nurturing hatred and vengeance for all creatures in the Nine Realms.  
  
"I can advise you brother, but even for me the Aether is..."Loki caught himself before he continued. This wasn't the issue was it? If it was Thor would have been telling him about the Aether without Loki having had to ask for information. So it could only be... Loki tensed as he realized why Thor was being so vague.  
  
Tony Stark. The foolish Midgardian had helped their mother who was more powerful than he ever would be. The foolish foolish mortal who had stood up against the leader of the dark elves, whose power even Odin was wary of.  
  
"How bad is he." It wasn't a question. It was a command for Thor to tell him everything he knew.  
  
Thor looked down at the floor. "We've tried everything brother, the healers have stopped the bleeding. But his machine, that light on his chest. It would not respond to any spell the healers weaved. Even mother knows not what to do. She is trying to restore him but ....It... I'm afraid he's slipping away."  
  
The arc reactor. Malekith must have damaged it somehow. Loki felt his blood run cold. That piece of Midgardian technology. He knew enough about it to know that Tony would die without it. Jarvis had held back information back then despite Loki's attempts at knowing what it's main function was in the mortal's body.  
  
"Take me to him."  
  
*  
  
Loki didn't bother to walk to the palace. He had grabbed Thor by the arm and teleported them both to Frigga's quarters,where, as he expected, his mother was hovering over the mortal as she wove one healing spell over another.  
  
Truth be told, Loki had never seen Frigga look so helpless.  
  
She seemed exhausted as well, as she was slow to react when they appeared in the room.  
  
"How is he?" Loki asked and Frigga finally turned around. Thor was following behind Loki, looking both sad and lost yet at the same time he looked hopeful as well.  
  
Frigga stepped aside, unweaving her spell as Loki'S took over.Loki waved his hand and his power covered Stark's body. It was easier for Loki to check what was wrong with Stark this way than have to talk through everything with Frigga.  
  
Frigga shook her head in response to Loki's question, "I do not know my son, this is... I don't know how else to fix him. I've used all the spells I know, and the healers have all but given up." Frigga looked down at the mortal lying prostate on the bed, his breathing shallow. "His wound has healed, but his heart, it grows weaker by the minute."  
  
Loki frowned. Stark's breathing was far too shallow and the glow of the reactor was off, it was too weak. "It's his reactor," he muttered as he tried to pull out all the information he remembered from Stark's files back at the tower from his memory. He was no expert, but he could remember the detailed drawings, as if he was looking at it right now.  
  
He reached out and caressed the smooth outer casing and hissed. It really was weaker.  
  
"Brother what are you doing?"  
  
"Thor if you don't shut up, please leave us."Loki muttered. The problem with Stark's reactor was the number of designs the mortal had made for the same machine. He had to be able to identify which specific type of reactor this was if he wanted to fix it temporarily. If he had the wrong design in mind, it would make it worse for Stark.  
  
  
"Damned Midgardian. If only you hadn't made so many designs!" he growled as he tried racking his brain for the one design that corresponded to the one on Stark's chest. "Only Jarvis would be able to remember all your designs besides you," he muttered as he finally pulled out Stark's phone from his pocket.  
  
"Mother, can you slow down his breathing?"  
  
Frigga nodded and wove her spell over Loki's. Loki undid his weaving over Stark and instead focused on the Starkphone he had in his hand. "This should have taken weeks, but we don't have weeks," he muttered as he focused his Sedor on to the phone.  
  
Frigga was silent but Loki knew it wasn't just Thor who was wondering what it was he was doing.  
  
The glow around the phone had already increased since Stark had first given it to him. And Loki's theory was that whatever Jarvis was, it was feeding off the natural occuring Sedor in Asgard. But it hadn't been enough for Jarvis to get through. So Loki gave it a push. He fed it as much Sedor as he could, yet just enough for the Midgardian technology to take.  
  
As long as his theory was right, he should be able to get through to Jarvis.  
  
Little by litte he fed it his Sedor, and the golden glow grew bigger. He heard a gasp behind him. His mother.  
  
Thor could not see it. Thor, for all his bravery and honor, was totally numb to this kind of power. He could see powers that were off the charts, such as the Tesseract or the Mind Stone's power, yet when it came to more subtle powers, Thor was as thick as a block of stone.  
  
"Loki is this..."  
  
"It is his mother," Loki said with a small smile as he got closer and closer to the golden glow that he had seen back in Midgard. Small but bright.  
  
And then, suddenly, without warning, that familiar voice came through. "Mr Loki, what can I do for you sir?"  
  
 Loki almost laughed when he heard that voice. And Thor's jaw dropped on the floor. "That is Friend Stark's voice in the wall..."  
  
"Thor I already said this once. If you will not help, get out," Loki said as he placed the phone close to Tony. "Jarvis, Stark's arc reactor is failing. Can you tell me which model it is and help me fix it? We don't have much time."  
  
The AI was silent for a moment. Even though there was no face to judge, Loki could tell that the AI was thinking. Letting Loki in the tower before was fine, but this was the arc reactor in his master's chest. It was information that he had hidden from Loki before even if he had allowed him access to the arc reactor in general. Which model it was in Stark's chest was STark's most guarded secret.  
  
"Jarvis, I could leave him and let him die. I want to fix it so he may live."  
  
Jarvis hesitated still, but in the end he relented. Perhaps he was done weighing the consequences. "Model number 25, core still unnamed."  
  
Loki smiled. "Thank you Jarvis." That model. He remembers that one clearly.  
  
"Would you need help sir?"  
  
Loki nodded."I can repair it based on what I learned in my time there, but I'll still need your help."  
  
"Understood sir."  
  
Loki placed his hand on Tony's Arc reactor and slowly pulled it out, careful not to touch the sides and jolt his already weak heart. He looked at the reactor itself but decided on taking on the more difficult part of disassembly after he had inspected the encasing. He placed his hand inside the steel pipe, using just a bit of his magice to feel around instead of using his hands themselves. Physical contact may create a spark, and that just might kill Stark in his weakened condition.  
  
"Sir, I suggest you check the magnet at the bottom. That has the highest chance of malfunction for this model in all of my simulations."  
  
"Thank you Jarvis." Loki did just that, going straight for the magnet at the bottom. But he didn't feel anything, no pull. It wasn't working. Whatever enchantment Malekith had in his blade, it had rendered Stark's magnet useless. It felt like a regular lump of cold metal. "It's the magnet," he muttered as he focused his Sedor on repairing that one point.  
  
It was easier to fix that than to fix the reactor itself and it would have taken even someone like Loki more than five minutes to fix, time, which Stark did not have the leisure of. Time was not on his side when it came to the reactor. "I'll find time to replace it with a proper magnet, but for now this should do," Loki said as he pushed the reactor back in and saw it slowly glow stronger and stronger, while Tony's breathing slowly evened out.  
  
  
Loki took a deep breath and let it out slowly, to calm himself. "Thank you Jarvis," he said to Stark's phone. "Stay with him Jarvis, he'll want to hear your voice when he wakes."  
  
"Understood sir."  
  
Loki straightened and turned to Thor, rolling his eyes at the wide eyed look that his brother was giving him. "Wipe that look off your face you blundering idiot. I have a score to settle with Malekith."  
  
"Loki."  
  
Loki turned to Frigga and smiled at her. "Fear not mother. I am calm." He could hear the worry laced in her voice.  
  
"You and Thor both want to seek him, he who could easily destroy you both."  
  
Loki raised an eyebrow and turned to Thor. "You. You have no score to settle with Malekith."  
  
"Nay I have brother. At this very moment, the All-father has the Lady Jane locked up, fearing to let her out and risking Malekith finding her."  
  
  
Ah, Jane. So Stark had not come to Asgard alone. Thor's little lady friend was here too.  
  
"Why would Odin keep her?"  
  
"Because the Aether is inside her."  
  
This time it was Loki who fell silent. The Aether. Of course, that's why Malekith had come. And Odin wanted to keep her here? "He would only invite the dark elves back."  
  
Thor looked at Frigga with a victorious look. "I told father the same thing, he would not listen," Thor said to Loki.  
  
Loki sighed. "When did he ever listen to our counsel? We are but children to Odin."  
  
They hadn't agreed, Loki hadn't said yes, yet Frigga knew it as soon as he saw her youngest enter the room with Thor. She knew, as any mother would know her son's decisions before they even thought it. Frigga placed her hand on each of their shoulders. "I know, no matter what I say, you two will do what you must. But do it with the utmost care. Should you succeed,you will still be accused of treason and should you fail..."  
  
Thor smiled at Frigga. "I've been accused of treason once, and Loki a lot more than that. We should be able to handle one more."  
  
And for once, Loki agreed with Thor.  
  
*  
  
The plan had been simple. Initially Thor had wanted to enrol the assistance of Sif and the Warriors Three. But Loki had declined. Having them there would be more trouble than it was worth. They had all taken on the uproar in the prisons, they were tired, and Loki didn't want four warriors who believed him a traitor with them. And if they were to bring warriors, he wanted those who were cool headed enough to bring this plan to fruition, not four tired warriors who were more likely to swing an ax at him than help.  
  
Thor had spoken to Heimdall and the guardian of the Bifrost agreed with their plan.  
  
It was up to Loki to take Jane from where she was being held. It was easy, getting past the Einhenjar. It wasn't his first time.  
  
Loki was careful not to touch Jane, something he knew Sif would not be so careful about. Doing this himself saved them time from having to explain such a complicated concept as the Aether to four warriors who did nothing but fight. You couldn't expect a bunch of warriors who ran on instinct to suddenly use their brains.  
  
Thor was waiting for them by the grand hall where there was a huge hall that was left by the Dark Elves' ship. Loki casted a spell that changed Thor's and Jane's appearances. And Jane was left wondering when Sif had developed powers like these.  
  
Loki led the three of them down to the hangar, where the Asgardian ships were docked. It was heavily guarded, but Loki had enough power to keep them hidden from those eyes.  
All three of them entered one of the ships and Loki kept it cloaked as well, as they left the hangar. it was when they had gone far enought that he withdrew the spell that casted their changed forms and the cloaking spell around the ship. If the ship had been any bigger, it wouldn't fit the portal, and besides, he couldn't keep abusing his Sedor this way. He had to let it recover.  
  
Jane's eyes had widened in recognition. "You!" she said as she stomped towards him. "Give me a reason not to blast you out of the ship! You almost killed Thor back in NEw Mexico!"  
  
"We don't have a lot of time. I can only keep us hidden from the guard's senses for so long," Loki hissed as Jane continued shouting at him. his hands worked over the controls of the Asgardian ship as Thor walked in between them.  
  
"Thor what are you thinking?! He will betray you again!"  
  
Thor shook his head. "I trust my brother Lady Jane. For all his tricks and lies, he always has a bigger plan," he said fondly. "Isn't that right brother?"  
  
Since when did Thor become perceptive?  
  
"Tell yourself that and it may become true someday," Loki responded as he maneuvered the small ship through the open sea. He could see the passageway, the one that led directly to Svartlheim.  
  
Jane was about to say something more, but suddenly she collapsed and Thor rushed to her side, only to fret because he still could not touch her with the Aether inside of her like this.  
  
Then Thor looked up as he realized where they were headed. "Brother... this better not be a trick."  
  
"We have to hurry," Loki muttered. "The Aether is feeding off her life force. Hold on Thor, protect your Midgardian," he warned as he sped the ship towards the mountains, aiming for that small hole that no Asgardian would ever hope to breach.Especially even for someone as strong as Thor. This portal didn't open when you entered it at mild speeds either, there was a minimum that Loki had to reach before he could breach the thin veil separating the branches of Yggdrasil at this point.  
  
He vaguely saw Thor covering Jane out of the corner of his eye. And he pushed the craft through the small crack on the rocky mountainside.  
  
The sensation of moving across realms was one that Loki was accustomed to already. But Thor was not, which was why he had issued the warning. Loki carefully navigated their way through the portal. Because it was a natural occuring bridge, it was crude when compared to the polished surface of the Bifrost. But Loki had used this enough times to be familiar with the bounces and rough spots that he had to avoid.  
  
It wasn't a long ride. It was longer than the Bifrost but it didn't take that long. And when they did manage to reach the end, Loki couldn't help but say "Ta da." As if there was any doubt on Thor's part that Loki would be lying to him.  
  
Thor pulled back from Jane and looked around. The Midgardian was still slumped on the floor, unconcsious. And though Loki had no grudge against her, he didn't really care about her too much, well not at all, except for the fact that the Aether was inside of her.  
  
"Svartlheim?"  
  
"Where else did you want to go Thor?" Loki muttered as he maneuvered the ship through the rocky passages.  
  
Thor looked lost as he looked around. "Malekith could be anywhere."  
  
Loki sighed. "He's here," he said as he looked over the horizon that Thor was looking at. "Do you not trust me?"  
  
Thor clenched his hands around Mjolnir as he turned to look at Loki. "I want to brother, you know I do but with recent events sometimes even I have my doubts."  
  
Loki shook his head and turned to meet Thor's gaze. "I have long accepted that. How would I be the god of lies if I cannot deceive those around me?" Then he looked away again and back towards the horizon. "I do not ask you to trust me Thor, not anymore. But I ask you to Trust my rage, trust only that" he said in a tone that seemed to challenge the elder Asgardian god.  
  
"Rage for what?" Thor asked the younger god. He turned to look at Loki. "What is he to you brother?"  
  
And Loki knew just who Thor was talking about.  
  
"I know not who you speak of Thor," Loki lied. If he said he bedded one of Thor's brother in arms, even if it was one sided, would probably give the Thunder god another reason to smite the Liesmith. And Loki was in no mood to fight him, not right now, when Malekith was among them. He'd dangle that fact over Thor for a good teasing when the fight was over.  
  
"Brother..."  
  
A soft groan from Jane stopped Thor mid sentence. "We'll talk about this," Thor swore under his breath and then he turned his back to Loki and rushed to Jane.  
  
Loki carefully lowered the ship, keeping it cloaked. He could see Malekith's ship from here, and he knew without a doubt that the remaining dark elves were all there with their leader. It frustrated Loki, that he and Thor, with all their might cannot defeat the Dark Elves should they have possession of the Aether. But if there was one thing that was similiar between them, it was their pride and refusal to back down. They both wanted to win, regardless of how different their methods.  
  
And win they shall.  
  
  
  
  



End file.
